The Best Fitness Tracker

Every fitness tracker currently available has strengths and weaknesses. Even though there is no perfect device, the $130 Garmin Vivofit’s (also available from REI) flaws are easy to forgive given the convenience of its wrist-mounted, waterproof design and a legible, always-on display that tracks your stats in real time.

WAIT: February 4, 2015

The update to this guide should be posted over the next month, but our new pick for best fitness tracker is the Fitbit Charge HR. It has the features our readers made it clear that they want: It’s a wrist-mounted device with a screen that accurately counts daily steps. The Garmin Vivosmart is a great step-up choice for those who want smartphone notifications and accurate distance estimates for their runs.

January 5, 2015:
At CES 2015, Garmin introduced the Vivoactive, a combination fitness tracker, GPS sports watch, and smartwatch that can also track swimming and golfing metrics. At $250, it's priced competitively with Garmin’s GPS running watch, the Forerunner 220. See the What to Look Forward to section for further details.

December 23, 2014:
Our new pick for best fitness tracker is the Fitbit Charge. It has the features our readers made it clear that they want: It’s a wrist-mounted device with a screen that accurately counts daily steps. The Garmin Vivosmart is a great step-up choice for those who want smartphone notifications and accurate distance estimates for their runs. The Fitbit One remains our pick for those who prefer an accurate clip-style tracker. For those who are willing to trade a display for accuracy and personal insights, the Jawbone UP24 is also great. We recommend the Basis Peak for those who want maximum data and true sleep tracking. Look for a fully revised guide with all of our research and testing in January.

December 5, 2014:
Added DC Rainmaker's review of the Basis Peak. He found some problems with inaccurate heart-rate and sleep measurements, which we'll take into account as we do our own tests of the tracker. We also dismissed the Microsoft Band based on several other reviewers complained that it is entirely uncomfortable to wear.

November 20, 2014:
Added the Wellograph to the competition section. We discovered many problems with it during testing that do not justify its $350 price tag.

November 10, 2014:
Added the Misfit Flash, Wellograph, and Withings Activité to the Competition section.

November 5, 2014:
The Basis Peak is getting strong reviews, which we've linked to below. We've requested a unit for review to see how it compares to the Vivofit, Vivosmart, and others. So far, at least the Peak seems like a strong contender. Meanwhile, Jawbone unveiled two new trackers, the budget-oriented and basic Up Move and the Up3, which is waterproof and offers heart-rate sensing (but uses a method that's quite different than its competitors). See the What to Look Forward to section for details and why we're somewhat skeptical.

There’s also a “move bar” that flashes red anytime you’ve been inactive for too long—a feature we, along with other reviewers, found highly motivating. It is currently the only fitness tracker that combines these features with the added benefit of never having to be hooked up to charger. Unfortunately, since the Vivofit relies on disposable battery power, the display is not LED or backlit for low-light conditions and the current mobile app/desktop software is still pretty basic. But we have four words for you: one-year battery life.

If you can do without the wrist strap, the Fitbit One is the clip-based tracker with the most consistently positive user reviews and is still your best bet. At a bit less than $100, it’s a better deal as well. The Fitbit One may also be more appealing to those who prefer the Fitbit ecosystem for its compatibility with a wide variety of third-party apps and the social competition with your friends. But Garmin isn’t standing still in this area. Their recent deal with MyFitnessPal is a sign that Vivofit could tie into more apps and services in the near future. And unless you’re opposed to wearing a tracker on your wrist, the Vivofit’s wristband design is a lot more convenient and harder to forget.

Finally, if you have an older Android phone, then the Withings Pulse is your only option for Bluetooth syncing. Reviews of the Pulse are not as positive as the One’s and syncing some devices takes about 45 seconds to complete, but at least it will work with your older phone.

What do I know about fitness trackers?

As a residency-trained podiatrist and distance running coach, I understand the importance of setting goals and measuring your progress toward achieving them. By calculating and graphically displaying a person’s daily activity, fitness trackers have the potential to be a very valuable tool. Through hours of research and testing, my Wirecutter colleagues and I have determined the best device to assist you in living a healthier life.

What does this do?

Fitness trackers, in general, don’t just measure activity– studies show they actually motivate people to exercise more.

Fitness trackers, in general, don’t just measure activity—studies show they actually motivate people to exercise more. These devices can’t force you to walk that extra flight of stairs, get in the popularly recommended and research-supported 10,000 steps per day, or do the 20-30 minutes of daily aerobic activity the CDC recommends. What they can do is collect daily data, analyze it, and display progress over time, which goes a long way toward motivating you towards healthier habits.

In 2007, researchers at Stanford’s School of Medicine released a study that found pedometer use helped improve blood pressure and increased physical activity and weight loss. “Much to my surprise, these little devices were shown to increase physical activity by just over 2,000 steps, or about one mile of walking per day,” said the study’s lead author, Dena Bravata, MD, MS, a senior research scientist in medicine. Basically, they’re perfect for those who want to lead a healthier lifestyle but could use a little outside motivation to get there.

So what exactly is a fitness tracker and why would you want one? Basically, it’s a wearable mini-computer that uses sensors to gather different types of data about your activity and body. The most commonly included sensor is an accelerometer, which measures steps and other movements. It then uses algorithms to translate these readings into more helpful figures like distance traveled or number of “very active minutes.”

We all know that not all steps require the same amount of effort. A number of trackers have a built-in altimeter that allows them to factor in stairs and hill climbs to get a more accurate gauge of how hard you’re working.

Some models can even estimate and log sleep data. Most trackers monitor, record, and interpret movement to provide some general information about sleeping habits. Until some long-term prospective scientific studies are conducted, consider this feature a nice add-on to most trackers and not a precise measurement of sleep quality.

All of this information is then synced with a smartphone app or computer where you can analyze your habits and gain insight into your health and wellbeing as laid out in neat little charts, graphs, and data tables.

Who’s this for?

Anyone who’s looking to measure their daily activity as they progress toward fitness or weight loss goals would benefit from a fitness tracker. The social or other motivational features baked into most activity trackers to encourage accountability between family and friends can serve as a strong motivating factor. They’re designed to be tiny and unobtrusive so you won’t think twice about taking them wherever you may go.

Anyone who’s looking to measure their daily activity as they progress towards fitness or weight loss goals would benefit from a fitness tracker.

Smartphone apps like Moves are cheaper but can be a major drain on your already-battery-constrained device. (See the Can I use a smartphone app? section below.) While newer phones like the iPhone 5S, Moto X, and Nexus 5 have dedicated motion-tracking chips that make this less of a problem, not everyone has this new generation of phone. What’s more, you’re not always going to have or want to have your phone on you. Unless you love lugging around a phone for all your activities and aren’t paranoid about damaging it, a dedicated activity tracker trumps a smartphone app.

If you’re a serious runner/triathlete and care mostly about recording your speed, distance, and route, this is not the right device to perform those functions. You will be better served by a GPS running watch.

If you don’t care about the data and are just looking for some motivation, a pedometer and a self-imposed goal could be sufficient, but that won’t paint a picture of your broader physical activity the way a fitness tracker would with automatic logging and visualization. You also lose out on the motivation from social network sharing.

How we picked

Keeping up with the latest fitness tracker announcements and product releases these days is no easy task. Every company on the planet seems hellbent on releasing their own device into this space. With the recall of our most recent pick, the Fitbit Force, we’ve had to go back to the drawing board to re-evaluate every option available.

In a perfect world, we would be able to find a tracker that is worn on the wrist; is waterproof; and has wireless syncing, a legible screen, comprehensive app support, and a long battery life. Ideally, it would accurately track steps, pulse rate, sleep quality, and altitude. Unfortunately, that remains a pipe dream for now. If you take the sum of all the currently available trackers, it’s possible to do all these things, but there’s not one tracker that does it all. So picking the best is all about figuring out which device offers the best combination of those features for the least amount of compromise.

To find the best tracker, we searched the most reputable online resources, review websites, and message boards to get a general sense of which devices people are using. We talked to and got opinions from the writers who are covering fitness trackers. After these steps, it became clear that there is not one fitness tracker to rule them all.

While the Force was widely acclaimed as the best fitness tracker by a great number of reviewers and websites, the same can’t be said of the Vivofit. The Garmin device definitely has its share of backers, including DCRainmaker, Wired, and Engadget, but the folks over at PCMag and Gizmodo weren’t very impressed by the device. So the final step in making our pick was some hands-on testing of the devices and their respective apps/software.

I wore all these devices simultaneously for two weeks while walking, running, and playing floor hockey to collect some comparative data…

I wore all these devices simultaneously for two weeks while walking, running, and playing floor hockey to collect some comparative data, then tested each tracker individually along with their accompanying apps/software. I ended up removing the Moves app from the testing pool because there were times I did not want to run with my iPhone or was afraid of a hip check during floor hockey crushing my $600 device. While testing, I found that each tracker has specific strengths and weaknesses that make them better for some people and worse for others.

Overall, however, I found that the Vivofit’s weaknesses were the easiest to overlook, which made it the best tracker to live with. That’s why we think that it’s the best fitness tracker for most people. But again, none of these are truly bad devices, and it’s possible that you might be better served by a different model. As such, we’ve done our best to explain who might benefit more from each of the other options.

Our pick

The Vivofit fits securely on your wrist, has an easy-to-read display, and can be used in the pool, shower, or ocean. It can basically live on your wrist for a year before you need to change the battery, so no weekly recharge.

The Garmin Vivofit is the best tracker for most people because it’s the one that you’re most likely to use consistently. It combines a securely wrist-mounted form factor with a legible display that never needs to be recharged and is safe to use in the pool, shower, and ocean.

The Vivofit has a rather large display.

This means it can basically live on your wrist for a year before the battery needs to be changed. While it’s fairly basic in terms of what it tracks (just steps and extrapolations from them), it’s more motivating than other trackers, which is more important. Christina Bonnington from Wired called it the most motivating tracker she’s ever worn, due to the fact that it never has to be taken off and the simple yet effective way the screen keeps you going by displaying red bars during extended periods of inactivity.

…it can basically live on your wrist for a year before the battery needs to be changed

Similarly, DCRainmaker, one of the most prolific and thorough fitness gadget reviewers on the internet, proclaimed in his review: “I think Garmin has nailed the device side of Vivofit. As an activity tracker, it checks off almost all the major boxes of what I want.”

Above all else, the Vivofit’s wrist-mounted, waterproof design and one-year battery life make it more effective than most trackers. The less time you spend taking it on and off or trying to track down where you left this thing, the more time you will spend wearing it and collecting data.

The clasp on the Vivofit.

As for the strap itself, it shares a similar clasp closure to the Fitbit Force—the latter of which generated usability complaints—but so far there has been no similar uproar in the Amazon reviews. For what it’s worth, when we talked to Garmin at CES, a representative told us that they were originally planning to launch the Vivofit in time for the 2013 holiday season but delayed its release to work on the strap. So far, this decision seems to have paid off. While Brent Rose from Gizmodo mentioned that he experienced a few instances of the device falling off mid-workout, the majority of other reviewers (including myself) have found the Garmin’s closure to be secure and more than adequate.

The Vivofit’s display tracks your progress.

The wrist-mounted design also has the added benefit of making your tracking data more visible, which makes it more difficult to ignore and thus more motivating. Instead of sending you an easily ignored vibration alert when you’ve been sitting around too long, the Vivofit displays a red bar at the top of the display. Wired’s Christina Bonnington explained: “You come to dread the blinking red bar on the Vivofit display… But as exasperating as this bar of shame can be, heeding its gentle prodding does have a measurable effect. Using the Vivofit, I got up from my chair more, took more walks, and, in general, felt better.” In addition to the bar, I found during my own testing that getting instantaneous visual feedback on my step count and calories burned proved to be a more concrete motivation than the mere buzz that I got from the Jawbone UP24.

…the Vivofit automatically sets a daily step goal for you based on your activity level in recent days.

Along with the “move bar” and other data points, the Vivofit automatically sets a daily step goal for you based on your activity level in recent days. A big day of running or lazy Sunday on the couch will only result in a slight increase or decrease in the following day’s goal. Instead of big peaks and valleys, this more gradual approach leads to goals that feel more realistic and reachable. The Vivofit even features a screen that displays the number of steps you have remaining to reach the daily step goal.

While some trackers hope to motivate by tapping into your friends and social network, I can’t say that seeing the step count of a friend has really ever compelled me to make any big fitness changes. If anything, I’ve found these social integrations only let me know who is wearing and who has lost or isn’t wearing their Fitbit anymore (and are also limited to those who use Fitbit). Through Garmin Connect you can connect with friends and compare step counts if you so desire, but overall, Garmin’s solution is more self-sufficient and thus more likely to succeed if you don’t have a bunch of friends who use the same fitness gadgets as you.

The Vivofit taken out of its replaceable band.

Beyond motivation, having an always-on screen attached to your wrist is just more convenient for quick glances (most other trackers with screens require an additional button press to turn on the display). There’s no need to stop to pull it out of your pocket (like with clip-based trackers) or to sync it with a smartphone (like the screenless Jawbone). The inclusion of the display makes the device a few millimeters wider than the Flex but without any noticeable increase in weight.

Another nice bonus of the Vivofit is the freedom from recharging. The Vivofit’s batteries only needed to be changed once per year, giving it the ability to stay on your wrist where it avoids being forgotten and maximizes the data it can collect. The days of losing or misplacing your charging cable are gone with the Vivofit.

The Vivofit has a feature that can help estimate your sleep. Hold down the button before you hop in bed and the Vivofit’s accelerometer monitors how much you’re tossing and turning. In practice, we found this to be a mostly useless feature — you probably already know how many times you woke up since you were, you know, awake. So, it’s not a precise measure of sleep quality.

Currently, the Polar Loop and the Vivofit are the only two fitness trackers that can accurately determine heart rate during vigorous exercise. CNET testing found that the Vivofit and medical EKG machine displayed the identical results at a higher heart rate zone. While the Polar trackers use a Bluetooth Smart chest strap, the Vivofit will work with any current ANT+ heart chest strap with or without the monitor. Pairing the tracker to a heart rate monitor was very straightforward and switching to the heart rate screen begins recording the session. The Vivofit records your pulse every 15 seconds and updates the screen with that information every second. This screen also displays heart rate training zones, which can be customized in the Garmin Connect app or website. If you’re looking for more than this simple implementation of monitoring heart rate offered by fitness trackers, a GPS running watch is an upgrade to consider.

As far as the actual tracking goes, the Vivofit won’t give you the most accurate data, but it will give you the best data. That’s because our testing showed that its readings are consistent and that—combined with the fact that you never have to take it off—means it will give you the most complete view of your fitness and activity level trends, which is really the whole point of these things for most people. What matters more than how many steps you took on any given day is that your activity level is consistent with what you personally deem to be healthy based on your past activity level and goals you’ve set for yourself.

Our testing over the course of two weeks showed that the Vivofit consistently measured the second or third most steps compared to the others tested, but it also showed that the measurements were pretty consistent.

As you can see in the graph above, the Vivofit (green trace) easily falls in line with the rest of the pack over the 13-day test period. This indicates that it provides consistent data that you can rely upon to deliver good information about trends in your activity level. Compare that to other trackers like the Fuelband and Misfit, which vary in the degree to which they differ. This implies that they’re both inaccurate and inconsistent, which makes them far less useful for tracking trends.

All of this daily information can be read on the Vivofit’s built-in display, but if you want to take a look back at previous days, you’ll need to view the data on a smartphone or computer. To sync with a compatible Bluetooth smartphone, you just need to push and hold the Vivofit’s button for about two seconds. As long as your phone is nearby with the Connect app running in the background, your data will upload.

Unlike the devices from Jawbone, the Vivofit does not require a smartphone (though it can make use of one).

Unlike the devices from Jawbone, the Vivofit does not require a smartphone (though it can make use of one). It can wirelessly transmit your data to your computer via its included ANT+ USB stick. Once there, your data will be stored indefinitely in the cloud.

After syncing your Vivofit’s data, you can then review and analyze it in great detail with the Garmin Connect iOS/Android apps or desktop portal. The Garmin Connect home screen design is very upfront with your current day’s info and makes it easy to access data from the past few days as well as historical data to look at trends in your activity levels.

For comparison, Jawbone’s app deemphasizes data visualization in favor of an activity stream on the home screen (think a Facebook newsfeed that only contains the fitness data for you and your friends). You have to scroll down a little further via the sidebar to get to more data, but you can quickly go look at the past couple of days via their own screens. We think Garmin’s approach is a bit more useful for most people because your own personal data is more important to you than seeing what your friends are up to.

Who else likes it?

As previously touched upon, professional reviewers have some nice things to say about the Garmin Vivofit.

Christina Bonnington, Wired: “The Vivofit, while perhaps not the most fully featured wearable, is the most motivating one I’ve tried thus far. The fact that it doesn’t need to be charged daily or weekly is a huge plus over competitors…If I were getting a wearable for a family member or friend, this is the one I’d buy.”

Ray Maker, DCRainmaker.com: “I think Garmin has nailed the device side of Vivofit. As an activity tracker, it checks off almost all the major boxes of what I want.”

James Trew, Engadget: “There are a lot of good things going on here. For once, we have an activity tracker that permanently shows your steps/time/goal, with little to no user interaction required. ”

Jill Duffy, PCMag: “Garmin’s Vivofit modestly covers the fitness tracking bases and hits a few sweet spots that will certainly cater to a particular crowd. If you are in the market for an activity tracker, have used Garmin products before, and are in need of a new chest strap HRM, the $169 price for the Vivofit bundle is a great offer.”

Scott Stein, CNET: “I really liked wearing, and using, the Garmin Vivofit. Garmin’s simple and functional activity band is easy and low-maintenance, which makes it one of the best alternatives to a Fuelband or Fitbit.”

Flaws but not dealbreakers

Before we move on, we should make one thing abundantly clear: Making a waterproof device that runs on watch batteries requires trade-offs. You may note that the Vivofit has only a 3.6 star average on Amazon, but the vast majority of the negative reviews come from people who were expecting it to be something it never claimed to be.

You’ll find complaints about a lack of GPS, the lack of an altimeter, the lack of a backlit screen, etc. Basically, these are people who didn’t read the specifications and thought they were getting something that they weren’t. Don’t be that guy. If you exclude these reviews, you’ll find only a couple of complaints of broken devices and a few people who had some issues setting up the device, contrasted with mostly positive feedback.

As touched upon earlier, the main thing Garmin could improve on is the software support. Garmin Connect lacks the polish and features of the software and apps that are currently available for some competing trackers. “When it comes to ‘the little things’, that’s an area that Garmin has really stumbled on with the web site. It’s just lacking in features compared to other activity tracker sites like FitBit’s,” explained DCRainmaker. Though the Vivofit does estimate the number of daily calories burned, one notable omission from Garmin Connect is the ability to log meals.

The milquetoast software would be slightly less of a problem if you could easily port the data to a variety of other apps, but the Vivofit currently only supports MyFitnessPal. While we are happy to see Garmin play nice with this well-known calorie counter software, we hope to see it integrated with Lose It!, Withings Smart Body Analzyer and more ecosystems in the new future.

And since it lacks the additional juice of a rechargeable battery, you can’t get fancy, power-hungry features like a built-in pulse sensor (though you can add a wireless strap), sweat sensor, automatic background wireless syncing, or vibration alerts (which also means no silent wake-up alarm).

We found the lack of a backlight very frustrating when trying to activate sleep mode. Without it, you have to set it with the lights on. We’ve timed it to take about a 4-second button press to activate sleep mode, but you undershoot, it goes into sync mode and if you overshoot, it goes into pair mode. There’s really no easy way to make sure it’s actually working unless you see it.

Gizmodo’s Brent Rose found the lack of vibration to be a bit of a dealbreaker, but we found that the blinking red bar was enough to attract attention to our inactivity. This is especially true if you’re sitting at a keyboard and happen to glance down at your hands from time to time anyway. Besides, once you get in the habit of checking the time and your stats on your wrist (which won’t take long), there’s little chance that you’ll go much longer than an hour without glancing at your wrist. And when you do, the bar will be there, judging you silently with its judgment blinks until you get off your butt and get active.

There’s also not enough processing power to distinguish between various activities—though it’s not clear if the trackers that claim to be able to do this are even capable of such a feat. The one feature that they could and should have added is some kind of button-activated Indiglo backlight system for viewing the screen in the dark. If a $20 Timex can do it, a $130 fitness tracker should be able to as well.

Finally, if your main goal is to get as much data as possible and have it be as accurate as possible, the Vivofit is not for you. Accuracy isn’t a strong point of fitness trackers in general, and the Vivofit is no exception (no GPS here, despite Garmin’s navigation and tracking heritage), but it is consistent, which is what really matters here. No matter what you use, it’s a good idea to pay attention to the trends instead of exact step count. And in order to get the best trend data, you have to be using it more often, which you will be since you never have to take it off. The Vivofit will log the estimated distance you’ve walked, the approximate number of calories you’ve burned, and the approximate amount of sleep you’ve clocked over the preceding three weeks.

If this sounds like a lot of flaws, that’s because it is. But that’s not to say that it’s a bad device. If what you want is a no-hassle way to track your activity level and motivate yourself to be more active, you really can’t do any better right now. The waterproof, wrist-mounted tracker with an always-on screen and year-long battery life will always beat a more advanced tracker with umpteen specific sensors that has to be recharged every few days when it comes to meeting those needs. But if you have different expectations and priorities, there are other options that will serve you better—which we are more than happy to highlight for you.

Long-term test notes

Several readers have alerted us that they sometimes have trouble getting the Vivofit to clasp properly, and/or have had it fall off their wrist. I’ve also had the Vivofit fall off one time in the few months I’ve been wearing it, so we agree that the wristband could be better constructed so it clasps more securely.

To fix the problem, Garmin is now giving away a free accessory to keep the Vivofit attached to your wrist. If you visit their website and fill out an online form, Garmin will send you a Vivokeeper clasp (pictured) at no charge. After a few months, we continue to believe the Vivofit outperforms the other options with instant feedback from its always-on display and year-long battery life. We’ll continue to follow this issue and report back if the Vivokeeper doesn’t work as promised.

If you prefer a clip design (or have a Windows Phone)

The Fitbit One is our favorite clip-on tracker. It performs just as well as the Force, though it's a lot easier to lose or accidentally run through a rinse cycle. Fitbit is also the only software that'll sync with a Windows Phone

It’s not our pick for most people since the Vivofit has most of the same features in a more convenient package—not to mention better waterproofing and a year of battery life. But the Fitbit One is still our pick for people who prefer a clip-on device, those who prefer to be plugged into the Fitbit ecosystem, or have a device running Windows Phone (Fitbit is the only tracker app available for these phones).

Why would you care about the Fitbit ecosystem? Fitbit has been in the fitness tracker space with competitive social features for longer than the competition, meaning there’s already a pretty solid community of users on Fitbit’s website (and that community probably contains many of your friends already). There’s an argument to be made for the friend rankings acting as an extra motivating factor for many users—maybe not everyone, but there’s certainly a reason why people like to see how they’re doing compared to their friends and send taunts over the Internet.

Fitbit’s ecosystem also means that you can import your step data into a wide variety of third-party apps and services. Our main pick, the Garmin Vivofit has recently started doing the same (we still stand behind the Vivofit for its currently superior feature set). Additionally, since Fitbit also offers its own smart scale, you might be in the camp of those who want all their stuff to remain in sync through the same service. If you’re one of those people, we still think Fitbit is the way to go.

If you choose the One, be aware that it will require a certain amount of diligence to integrate into your daily routine. The One is perfect for those who’d prefer to wear a watch or aren’t excited about wearing a wrist-mounted device. Its small size makes it easy to hide, but know that the lack of a wristband means there is a greater probability you’ll forget to wear it—or worse, forget to take it off before doing laundry. If you want to know your daily progress you’ll need to unclip it or sync it up with your smartphone.

For non-Samsung Android users and/or a more complete picture of your health

This is another clip-on device that isn't as good as our other picks but works with more devices since it supports Bluetooth 2.0 and 4.0.

The $100 Pulse Ox (formerly known as both the Pulse and Pulse O2) is Withings’ fitness tracker offering to complement their well-known line of personal fitness and health products. The French company’s health and fitness ecosystem also includes a Wi-Fi-enabled weight scale, Smart Body Analyzer, and Blood Pressure Monitor. The data collected by the Smart Body Analyzer can be sent to the Fitbit ecosystem to work in concert with your One, but if pairing an activity tracker with automatically logged blood pressure data is on your must-have list, the Pulse Ox is currently your only choice. (Fitbit does offer blood pressure tracking, but the readings must be entered by hand on their web portal.)

For owners of older Android phones, it’s worth taking a look at the Pulse because Fitbit will not work with those phones.

The Pulse Ox supports the greatest number of devices of any tracker because it works with both Bluetooth 2.0 and 4.0. For owners of older Android phones, it’s worth taking a look at the Pulse Ox because Fitbit will not work with those phones. For those with newer smartphones, the Pulse Ox has automatic background syncing. No longer does syncing this Withings tracker require a long button push and waiting 30-45 seconds for your data to be transferred to your compatible Bluetooth device.

As far as features go, the Pulse Ox has everything you’d expect from a fitness tracker with one major differentiator: a sensor on the back of the device that measures heart rate and blood oxygen saturation. After removing the device from the clip, place your finger over the sensor and your heart rate/blood oxygen saturation is displayed and recorded. The whole process takes about 30 seconds to acquire the measurements. There are medical studies that show the benefits of paying attention to heart rate, but again, this is for resting pulse only. For those whose No. 1 priority is health tracking as opposed to mere motivation and movement tracking, the Pulse Ox gets a slight nod over the Fitbit One. We think this is a good idea in theory, but the fact that you have to unclip it to use it means that you’ll probably forget to do it a lot.

The Withings Health Mate app and desktop software are well-liked by reviewers and I found them both pleasant to use during my own testing (they’re a lot like Fitbit’s). These programs organize the activity data in a clean and simple manner, are easy to use, and place more emphasis on health metrics than social components for motivation.

Previously, the Pulse trackers could only be used as a clip tracker. Not everyone was happy with a fair number of negative reviews on Amazon discussing the security of the clip and stories of the Pulse popping out. During my testing, I experienced one instance of my Pulse escaping the rubberized clip. Luckily I noticed and didn’t end up losing the device.

In the 2014, Withings released a firmware update for the original Pulse, introduced an adjustable band to bring the tracker to the wrist and renamed the Pulse twice. When testing the new band, we found the fit to be both comfortable and secure. While we like the band, transitioning a clip-designed tracker to the wrist revealed a number of shortcomings. The Pulse Ox’s display is nearly impossible to read in sunlight and does not feature an always-on display like our favorite tracker, the Garmin Vivofit. The display’s readout for daily steps on the home screen is shown in a ridiculously small font. Also, in order to get measire the Pulse Ox’s namesake data points, you must remove the device from the band and are measure them in the midst of a workout.

While generally positive, Daniel Cooper of Engdaget saw some shortcomings with the Pulse: “As you may have gathered, we generally like the Pulse, but it has some problems that could ultimately hamper its success.” Mathew Honan of Wired said, “It’s a solid choice, and it has many strengths. Having said that, it’s not my current favorite, due entirely to the fact that it is an attachable device, not a wearable device.”

For those who love and have bought into the Withings ecosystem of products, the Pulse Ox is a great addition. But the pulse rate and oxygen saturation measurements are little more than gimmicks at this stage. Overall, until some of the small flaws of this device are rectified we still think that the Fitbit One is the best clip fitness tracker available.

If you must have vibration idle alerts and silent alarms…

The UP24 is now the only tracker from a major company that supports both vibration idle alerts and silent alarms, but it lacks a display and offers no way to differentiate between alerts.

For those who want a fitness tracker with vibration idle alerts and silent alarms, the Jawbone UP24 is our pick. Thanks to a firmware update in September 2014, Jawbone says the UP24’s battery life has doubled from seven to 14 days. That doesn’t come close to the one year of continuous operation afforded by the Vivofit’s disposable battery, but it still gives the UP24 a huge advantage over the typical 7-day (or shorter) battery life found on other rechargeable trackers like the Vivosmart or Fitbit Flex.

If you’re willing to go without a screen, prefer goal-oriented tracking to data-oriented tracking, are more motivated by alerts than numbers, and aren’t troubled by a spotty reliability record, then the UP24’s not a bad option–but that’s a lot of “ifs.” Mathew Honan of Wired summed it up well: “While wonderfully useful, this band (UP24) feels like its playing catch-up.”

The Verge says the Jawbone is “the most special” of all available fitness trackers because it’s the only one that will change your routine and help you get into better shape with its motivating alerts and overall health tracking. We disagree; we find the Vivofit’s red bar of shame works quite well on its own as a motivator, and those that want more comprehensive health data can pair the Vivofit with the MyFitnessPal app.

With a March 2014 software release, Jawbone expanded the types of actions that can trigger a vibration alert. While it’s nice to have more programmable options, this could lead to confusion as to whether that last vibration was triggered because you’re late to a meeting, have been idle too long, or just reached your next 2,000 step goal.

In September 2014, Jawbone announced plans to allow their UP app software to be used on other smartphones, smartwatches, and fitness trackers. After a forthcoming update, no longer will you need a Jawbone UP or UP24 fitness tracker to use the Up app. This means that companies, like Garmin and Fitbit, could choose to make their fitness tracking hardware work with Jawbone’s UP app. There’s no guarantee of this happening, but even if no other tracker manufacturers support it, smartphones with a motion coprocessor can collect and send activity information to the UP app. Jawbone will continue to design and sell dedicated trackers, but they appear to be putting a much bigger emphasis on making UP the go-to fitness tracking software for all devices.

The Jawbone app features a visually appealing food logging system for those dedicated enough to use it and integrates with other fitness apps and health ecosystems. If they ever release a model that is cheaper and has a display of some sort, this openness could feasibly push it ahead of Fitbit, but only if third parties actually adopt the platform. For now, the Vivofit is the better buy.

Can I just use a smartphone app instead?

There is a growing number of free applications for those who want to record their daily activity data but aren’t ready to drop more than $100 on a dedicated fitness tracker. Due to concerns over battery life, we only considered apps that are available for newer phones with dedicated motion coprocessors, like the iPhone 5s, HTC One M8, Samsung Galaxy S4, Galaxy S5, and Google Nexus 5. Though the apps for smartphones are cheaper than dedicated trackers (if you already own a compatible phone), they require your phone to be with you at all times for an accurate measure of activity and, despite the motion coprocessor, can still be a minor drain on an already-battery-constrained device.

The Breeze app’s home screen.

Keeping in mind these facts, we think Breeze (iPhone 5s only for now) is the best app for most people because we found it to be the most motivating thanks to the push notifications it sends you throughout the day. The app’s home screen presents your daily step count and weekly activity overview in a very clear and simple manner. With push notifications, Breeze provides some gentle encouragement to be active throughout the day and displays your progress towards a daily goal. Your personalized step goal is generated by the app and based on your activity history. For some, the push notifications might become a nuisance, but others will appreciate the extra motivation. Wirecutter founder Brian Lam has actually given up using dedicated trackers in favor of Breeze because he likes having one less device in his life (and also gets much of his exercise through surfing, which no tracker really does a good job of tracking).

Though we like Breeze the best, be prepared to outgrow it quickly. Once you see the benefits of fitness tracking, you’ll want to upgrade to something with more capabilities like the ability to count more than steps and connect to a bigger device ecosystem. Though training sessions logged in Runkeeper will show up in Breeze, the step estimates aren’t very accurate and the data can’t be easily exported outside of the app. If you enjoy interacting with family and friends, there’s no current way to taunt or encourage them inside the app. Though better than Moves, Breeze’s insistence on accessing location data leads to a bit more battery drain than motion-only tracking solutions. The tone push notifications can also be a little off-putting as well—they are phrased in a very human way that flirts with the border of uncanny valley. As you progress you get comments like “Fancy that.” or “Today has been fun hasn’t it?” Almost like a chipper HAL 9000.

The Fitbit app (iOS/Android), currently available for iPhone 5s and HTC One (M8), is great for those who might consider upgrading to Fitbit hardware or don’t like push

notifications. After downloading the Fitbit app, you’ll need to “Set Up a New Fitbit Device” in the Account section of the app and select “MobileTrack.” With the ability to interact with other people that have Fibit, log meals, and receive information from devices like a Withings scale. The Fitbit app has more features and a larger ecosystem than Breeze, so it can be used with a dedicated device like a Fitbit One or Flex later on if you decide to upgrade.

Unfortunately, like Breeze, the Fitbit app will still drain your battery a bit, but less so since it’s not constantly pulling your location data. Also, the lack of notifications with the Fitbit app means it’s super easy to ignore if you’re not diligent about checking it yourself.

Moves (iOS/Android) was one of the first apps to allow smartphones to track steps (it was bought by Facebook in 2014). Though it works with a lot of older smartphones, battery life will pay a high price for the fitness tracking. The battery drain along with less-than-stellar customer reviews makes this an app worth passing on.

We don’t think smartphone apps are a better or more useful choice than dedicated fitness trackers at this time, but we’ll keep a close eye on their progress and improvements they’re bound to make.

The competition

As mentioned earlier, our previous pick for this category was the Fitbit Force. While we didn’t experience it ourselves, there have been many reports of Fitbit Force users developing skin irritation from the band. After more reports piled up, on February 21, Fitbit stopped selling the Force and issued a voluntary recall. In March, a lawsuit seeking class-action status was filed against Fitbit on behalf of customers who developed the rash. The company is offering full refunds to any Force owners. To return yours and get your money back, follow the link for the return form on this Fitbit FAQ page or call 888-656-6381 to order a prepaid shipping envelope.

In November, Jawbone released the Up Move, which can be worn either as a clip or on your wrist. Powered by a replaceable battery, the Move will reportedly go six months without needing a recharge. The standard activity metrics like steps, calories burned, and sleep are all there, but you won’t get the vibration notifications or alerts like with the Up24, and you can’t wear it in the shower or swimming. You’ll rely mostly on the iOS or Android Up app to check on your stats, but the Move does have a very basic LED to display a general measure of your progress. The app is easy to navigate and organizes activity data into graphs and a timeline to review your progress toward your goals. While CNET dinged it for “ugly design,” they also said, “It works as advertised, and steps and sleep sync effortlessly.” At $50, the Move is a cheap way to try fitness tracking for those who’ve been curious and haven’t done it before.

The $85 Flex, Fitbit’s original wrist tracker, lacks the digital readout of the Vivofit. Instead, it has an LED strip that tracks battery life and progress towards your activity goal for the day. This wrist-mounted design means you’re less likely to lose it, but it has some pretty major compromises besides the lack of a screen. Peter Ha reviewed it for Gizmodo and found that readings from the One and Flex differed dramatically on a day-to-day basis: “Over the course of four days, the number of steps tracked on the Flex versus the One varied from as little as a few hundred to several thousand.”

The Basis B1 Health Tracker smartwatch/fitness tracker hybrid was the first to make use of skin contact and an optical sensor to collect heart rate and perspiration data, and it was our pick for people who wanted a lot of data from their tracker. But it has been discontinued and replaced by the Basis Peak, which we’re testing right now. (See What to Look Forward to section below for more.)

For those seeking the most minimal, stylish fitness tracker available, the Misfit Shine is worth a look…

For those seeking the most minimal, stylish fitness tracker available, the Misfit Shine is worth a look, but only if you’re willing to do without some key features like a screen, accuracy, and a rechargeable battery (though it does last four months on a single watch battery). Its round body is about the size of two stacked quarters and is made from colored anodized aluminum available in gray, black, topaz, and champagne. Instead of a display, it has a circle of LEDs. Tapping the device will illuminate a ring of lights to display your progress or even the approximate time of day. While it’s both iOS and Android compatible, the compromises made in the name of minimalism don’t quite justify the result. Some reviewers have questioned the accuracy of this first-generation device and think that requiring switching activity type within the app is a cumbersome step. Eugene Kim from PCMag summed up the situation pretty well: “The Misfit Shine is an activity tracker that’s big on style, but doesn’t quite offer enough to shine above the advanced competition.”

A fairly underwhelming software update released earlier this year added a separate screen for sleep, weight tracking, and an alarm function to the iPhone app. Also this year, Misfit released a Windows Phone app and entered into a partnership with the makers of the Beddit sleep monitor. The thin strip sensor slips under your sheets to record and deliver sleep data (sleep cycles, heart rate, snoring) to the Misfit app. The $150 Beddit also has a smart alarm to wake you during a light sleep cycle. Support for more phones and better science-based sleep tracking are a welcome improvements, but without personal recommendations it’s difficult to see what use most people will have for all this data.

For $150, you’d expect the Nike+ FuelBand SE to do more, not less, than its cheaper competitors. This updated version does feature the brightest and most colorful tracker display with some noted improvements, including Bluetooth 4.0, more band colors, sleep tracking, and the ability to measure and display steps. While we are pleased that Nike has included a real-life metric, “FuelScore” is still the emphasis here. Even with these improvements, there’s still no Android support. Reviewers aren’t impressed either. Scott Stein at CNET said, “The FuelBand SE comes closer to being a smarter continuous activity-tracking must-have than its predecessor, but the software’s still not as good as the feel and look of the band itself.” Nike has the cool factor and it has the brightest, most colorful display of any tracker, but with Nike’s plans to shift focus to just its software, pass on this one.

The Fuse is Mio’s first fitness tracker featuring an optical heart rate sensor. Besides determining heart rate, the $150 Fuse estimates steps, distance, and calories; it does not track sleep, stairs, or have vibration alarms. The waterproof tracker features two modes: workout and daily activity. The optical sensor will only be enabled during the workout mode, so it won’t measure your heart rate throughout the day. But it has a basic timer and the ability to bridge ANT+ devices to make them work smoothly with Bluetooth systems (something triathletes and cyclists will appreciate). Mobile devices running the Mio GO app are the only way to sync the Fuse. The bare bones app can also upload workouts to MapMyFitness. It’s by the far the biggest tracker I’ve ever worn. If you’re willing to deal with a bulky device in return for accurate heart rate data from daily workouts, the Mio Fuse will serve you well. But for most, a slimmer and fully featured tracker with a fully formed app is a much better choice.

Microsoft’s first fitness tracker, the Microsoft Band, is the first fitness tracker we’ve seen to come with both GPS and an optical heart rate sensor. It connects to Windows Phone, Android, and iOS devices, and comes with guided workouts, smartphone notifications and voice control via their digital assistant, Cortana. Priced at a competitive $200, Microsoft is claiming up to 48 hours of battery life for the Band. But comfort is proving to be a major issue for the first people to review the Band. The Verge, for instance, found it to be be “big” and “heavy,” but thinks the software is already “solid.” Re/Code’s Katie Boehret wore it every day for a month and said it felt like she was “being punished.” She elaborated: “Its stiff build and angular shape left me looking forward to taking it off. When I put my baby to sleep at night, it roughly dragged against his skin as I placed him in his crib. When I slept wearing the band to measure my sleep patterns, I couldn’t lie on my stomach with my hands under my pillow, because the Band felt like a rock. After a month of wear, I got a little more used to it, but I still didn’t like it.” PC Mag also mentions the heavy, “shackle”-like feeling of the band, but reports that there’s a bigger problem with the heart rate sensor’s consistency and accuracy. A wrist-based tracker is meant to be worn every day; if it’s not comfortable, you’re not going to wear it. So, there’s no way we can recommend the Band right now.

The original Magellan Echo was among the first wrist devices to display a smartphone’s GPS data and apps. Their second-generation device, the Echo Fit, is a bit more independent. Along with the all the abilities of the original, the Echo Fit can track daily steps, calories burned, and sleep activity even when it’s not tethered to your phone. It’s an interesting idea for budget-conscious runners who want to maximize the functionality of their smartphones. For those who don’t want to run with their phones and want get a larger amount of workout or daily activity data, a dedicated GPS running watch or fitness tracker is a better choice.

Priced at $300, the Wellograph is one of the most expensive fitness trackers currently available. Despite its good looks and promising features, I discovered major drawbacks during testing. The wrist-worn tracker has an optical heart rate sensor, a scratch-resistant sapphire crystal face, and a fashionable metal and leather design. While it might look better on your wrist if you plan to wear it all day, leather isn’t an ideal material for anyone who sweats even a little during workouts. On top of that, the display is difficult to read in sunny conditions, and I found the heart rate and activity readings inaccurate. Brushing my teeth was consistently counted as steps (the company says it hopes to remedy this with future firmware updates). Bluetooth pairing constantly dropped, making syncing a pain, and installing firmware updates was tedious and time consuming. Jill Duffy of PCMag.com was also turned off by the inaccurate data: “It is stylish, yes. I love the leather strap…But the data is inaccurate, and the mobile app is seriously lacking.” Even with numerous firmware updates and improvements, you’re better off buying a less expensive, more fully realized tracker.

Yes, they are more expensive and not for most people looking to buy a fitness tracker, but Polar has a pair of GPS running watches with fitness tracking features, the M400 ($170) & V800 ($370). (As batteries and sensors get smaller and less expensive, we’ll see more GPS watches with this functionality and future activity trackers featuring GPS.) Both Polars and the Garmin Forerunner 15 have fewer activity-tracking features than dedicated fitness trackers but have the basics and will save some wrist real estate. Head over to our GPS running watch guide for more details.

Withings has partnered with a Swiss watch manufacturer to create a fashion forward device called the Activité. The combination watch/fitness tracker features two dials, a stylish design and it connects to the Withings Health Mate app where you can upload your steps and sleep data via Bluetooth. Like most analog wristwatches, the large dial and hands display the time, while a second smaller dial and arm indicate progress towards a preset daily activity goal. The minimal, leather-banded device will come in either black or silver and includes a hefty price tag. The Activité will set you back $450 and initially will only work with iOS devices (Android support coming in 2015).

In another case of fitness trackers and smartwatches colliding–or at least collaborating–Pebble and Misfit (makers of the Shine) and Jawbone (makers of the Up) are partnering on bringing fitness tracking to the popular smartwatch. You don’t have to buy a Shine or Up wristband to go along with your Pebble. Instead, the standalone apps for the Pebble utilize the watch’s own internal accelerometer for tracking steps and sleep in the background (thanks to a September software update). We think using the accelerometer for always-on step tracking means the Pebble’s battery life could take a hit. But the company says it “won’t meaningfully affect battery life on the device and it still expects users to get between five and seven days between charges.” We’ll report back with our own experiences soon.

The LG Lifeband Touch is a cross between a fitness tracker and a smartwatch. In addition to tracking your activity data, it has an OLED touch display that puts your smartphone notifications right on your wrist. If you’d like to also measure heart rate, it’s not available on the wrist device but can be added by using LG’s Heart Rate Earphones. Yes, you read that right. It’s compatible with iOS and Androidand is available for $150.

Samsung has a $150 wrist-mounted fitness tracker called the Gear Fit that is full of promise but fails to deliver. On the positive side, the device features a curved, rectangular color touchscreen, which displays text clearly and is easy to read at a variety of angles, according to Gigaom. It can receive phone notifications and has swappable bands and a built-in heart rate sensor. The Gear Fit only works with these 17 Samsung devices, and while most trackers will last a week, Scott Stein of CNET found that the power usage of the Fit’s screen requires recharging every two days (with notifications enabled). Ray Maker of DCRainmaker.com had pretty stern words for the Gear Fit, calling it “the pinnacle of fitness failure.” He found that it can’t transmit step data to Samsung’s newest flagship phone, the Galaxy S5, and the optical heart rate sensor only works half of the time. Maker concluded, “This is a product I wanted to love, but ultimately, it just ended up being a huge disappointment.”

For those who want their fitness tracker to provide more information during serious exercise and prefer a display that works better in low light than Vivofit, the Polar Loop might be worth a look. The Loop measures the standard array of activity data and, similar to the Vivofit, it can display heart rate. While Polar’s $100 wrist tracker requires the purchase of an additional $55-60 chest strap, it’s one of only two trackers that can accurately monitor and record your heart rate data during vigorous exercise. In April, they released an Android app (that supports just three phones right now) and added inactivity alerts that will show up the Loop’s display.

The waterproof Reign wrist tracker from Jaybird promises some interesting features, like the ability to read heart rate variability (HRV). Pressing your finger for two minutes on its fingerprint sensor lets you determine if you’re ready to exercise or need a day off (according to how much sleep you’ve gotten, your heart rate, etc.). Unfortunately, the Reign can’t measure and record basic heart rate data or live up to the company’s claims of automatically determining activity type. Jill Duffy of PCMag.com states, “Bicycling never showed up as an activity, even though I rode more than 10 times while wearing the Reign.” She also found that “it (the Reign tracker and app) ignores basic features that make fitness gadgets truly usable.” At $200, the Reign is one of the most expensive fitness trackers on the market. Unless you consider heart rate variability a must-have feature, you’re better off passing on the Reign.

Sony has a wristband, called the SmartBand SWR10, which features a dot-style display, waterproofing, and a variety of colored straps similar to the Fitbit Flex. Along with vibration alerts and the ability to mute phone calls, Sony has developed an Android Lifelog app to allow users to journal and log photos — though it’s not clear if “life-logging” is really what people want from their activity trackers. It’s available now for $75, but it’s hard to broadly recommend since it only works with smart phones running Android 4.4 or later. Early reviews indicate it’s “not quite fit for primetime.”

iFit, whose parent company ICON is known for high-end Proform treadmills, recently released the Active fitness tracker. Like most others, this $130 clip (or wrist-worn) device tracks calories, sleep, steps, and distance. The Active features a LED display, an internal motor for vibration alerts and has the ability to sync with specific treadmills to gather workout data. The rechargeable tracker has a five-day battery life, but at this time does not allow for activity data to be shared outside the iFit app and ecosystem. Unless you have a Proform treadmill or display that performs well in low- or no-light conditions, you’re better off with the Garmin Vivofit.

Soleus, a company known for its inexpensive running watches, has released a fitness tracker called GO!. While the company has made some big claims, Amazon customer reviews show that the device under-delivers. Issues with Bluetooth syncing and an oft-reported problem with un-pairing, poor fit for a variety of wrist sizes, and difficulty charging make this a device that we cannot recommend.

In August, Timex announced their first fitness tracker, the Move x20. If the $85 device looks familiar that’s because the Move x20’s hardware is essentially a rebranded version of the Soleus Go. Along with creating a better app, Timex had hoped to differentiate the two devices by striking partnerships and integrating the Move x20 with popular apps like MyFitnessPal. Along with a number of other issues, these partnerships with third party apps have yet to be completed. So you’re better off with a different track than the Move x20.

Huawei has released a fitness tracker unlike any other—whether that’s a good or bad thing, we’ll let you decide. The Talkband B1 has the basic features of a tracker but also can pop out of the band to be a Bluetooth headset. The ability to do both tasks comes with quite a few compromises, such as limited fitness tracking software and a display that sticks a good distance outside of the band. Ditching the charging dongle for a USB connector built into the band is a nice touch, but we don’t think this $135 marriage between tracker and Bluetooth headset was meant to be.

If you have terrible posture, help may be on the way from the $100 Lumo Lift. Along with counting steps and calories, this clip tracker says it can detect when you’re slouching and trigger vibrations to remind you to correct the way you’re sitting or standing. Currently the device only works with iPhone 4s and newer iOS devices, but Lumo has plans to release a Windows/Mac desktop application this fall. The clip tracker’s ability to give feedback about posture is an interesting take and does differentiate it from the competition.

Spree Sports and its forehead-mounted tracker are hoping to make body temperature a must-have fitness metric. For those that think that’s kind of strange, Spree has also integrated the tracker into a ball cap that looks closer to standard exercise gear. An interesting idea, but it’s not getting great reviews: users report battery life isn’t great, and the Bluetooth connection between the headband and their smartphone had trouble staying connected.

Amiigo raised more than half a million dollars on Indiegogo in 2013 promising the ability to recognize and measure different types of activity and exercise. They recently started shipping the device to backers, we’ll have to wait and see whether they’ll be able to compete with more established competitors in the future.

There are also a couple of offerings for the budget-minded crowd. For those seeking a less expensive device to start tracking their activity, Fitbit offers the Zip. This $50 device features a small clip form and syncs via Bluetooth. The lower price means no backlit screen and the device is limited to three metrics: steps, distance, and estimated calories burned. That said, many users do seem to like the Zip, but they’ve chosen to make that feature trade-off in favor of an affordable, simple device.

Misfit also has a less expensive tracker. Listed at $50, the Flash has the same basic design of the Misifit Shine but trades a brushed aluminum casing for one made of plastic and polycarbonate. The Flash is advertised as waterproof to 30 meters and–thanks to replaceable coin-cell batteries–has a six-month battery life. We like that Misfit trackers have cycling and swimming modes, but they generally don’t gather much specific data from these activities (like laps or distance).

The budget-minded Fitbug Orb has Bluetooth 4.0, an app, and accessories to go along with it, but at $50, you have to question its quality. While it’s very possible it could be serviceable as a device, there’s no chance the ecosystem and app will be as good as Fitbit’s. You will see many similar cheap trackers, but really, they’re just pedometers with Bluetooth and are not worth your money.

After addressing a difficult-to-read display on the original hardware and creating a new, dedicated app, the Lifetrak Zone C410 is a fitness tracker some on a budget may want to consider. The C410 now features year-long battery life, an always-on display, and the ability to measure heart rate. Dan Graziano of CNET gives the device high marks for accuracy and the inclusion of calibration options: “The Zone C410 provides accurate tracking, a laundry list of features, and long battery life for less than the competition.” Even with these steps forward and a price under $100, the bulky sports watch design and cumbersome two-step syncing process keep the Zone C410 from being among our top picks.

When released in mid-October, the LifeTrak Brite R450 was the first tracker to measure ambient and blue light exposure (assuming you’re not wearing long sleeves) along with steps, calories, distance, and heart rate. Medical studies have shown bright-light exposure and exercise have a positive effect on mood and blue light can affect sleep cycles. The waterproof device displays activity prompts and notifications from compatible smartphones. These prompts include suggestions to get exercise outside and increase your light exposure. On the downside, the Brite R450’s overall design and protruding buttons make it look like an outdated sports watch. The $100 Pebble smartwatch offers many of the same features for $20 less. Unless you find occasionally checking pulse rate or light exposure metrics important, we think a Pebble is better for relaying smartphone notifications, and the Fitbit Charge is a better dedicated fitness tracker for most people.

With their line of clip-based trackers, Striiv offers a different approach to getting people active. The Striiv Play and Smart Pedometer attempt to turn 10,000 steps a day into a game, donating to charity and competing with friends. While we applaud them for their original ideas in the category, we think the instantaneous feedback provided by a wrist-mounted device and seamless syncing beat out gamification.

At CES 2015, Striiv introduced a trio of wrist devices: Band ($50), Touch ($60) and Fusion ($85). The Band tracks basic activity metrics like steps, calories, sleep and displays progress towards a daily step goal by lighting up a series of eight LEDs. The Touch and Fusion include the same fitness tracking features, but include a touchscreen display and smartphone notifications. Aside from their MyLand game which is “powered by your step,” Striiv isn’t doing anything new or particularly well with these trackers. A number of Amazon customers have voiced their displeasure with Striiv’s devices and customer service. You’re better off avoiding these devices.

What to look forward to

Fitness trackers are a hot category this year and there are a few so far that might be worth waiting for (if you can).

Due in early 2015, the Up3 is Jawbone’s successor to the Up24. While Jawbone’s competitors have implemented smartphone notifications and touchscreens, Jawbone appears focused on activity tracking while keeping the design simple. The Up3 looks and functions a lot like the Up24 but with the ability to measure heart rate. Because they were concerned about the device’s battery life, Jawbone passed on the inclusion of an optical sensor, instead going with a method that determines heart rate via skin and ambient temperature sensors. Future tests will determine the accuracy of the Up3’s “bioimpedance” method, but it’s a curious move considering the generally accepted accuracy and reliability of optical sensors. At launch, the Up3 won’t be able to measure heart rate during exercise, which Jawbone says it plans to remedy with a firmware update in the future. On the plus side, the new tracker is waterproof and will have the ability to detect respiration rate and hydration. The Jawbone app now has a Smart Coach feature, which promises to analyze your activity data and provide personal insights. We’ll watch for what the first reviews say, and will also try to test the new Jawbone Up trackers ourselves.

Garmin’s new $170 Vivosmart isn’t a replacement for the Vivofit; rather, it’s for folks who want their fitness tracker to track more and do more. In addition to all the basic fitness tracking features found in the Vivofit, the Vivosmart adds support for ANT+ cycling speed sensors, which makes it the first fitness tracker (potentially) worth buying that can accurately track biking. It also gains the ability to track other workouts as timed “activities” using a stopwatch (such as weightlifting or yoga).

Beyond its more versatile tracking features, the Vivosmart adds a number of smartwatch features. These include vibrating alarms, push notifications and caller ID from your smartphone, automatic background syncing, and a self-lit OLED touchscreen. It also adds a handy phone tracking feature that helps you find your phone so long as you’re within Bluetooth striking distance. Like Find My iPhone, it lets you play a sound from your phone, then it shows your distance from it as you get closer or further (it’s kind of like playing Marco Polo).

However, in order to power all these features, they had to swap the year-long replaceable battery with a rechargeable one that needs topping off every week. The screen is also no longer “always-on” due to the fact that OLEDs use more energy than e-ink. Whether these tradeoffs are worth it to you depends on how much you value the cycling integration and smart features.

At CES 2015, Garmin announced the Vivoactive, which is a combination fitness tracker, GPS sports watch, and smartwatch they’re selling for $250. The thin, color touchscreen device reportedly gets 10 hours of battery life with GPS on and three weeks with GPS turned off.

Along with syncing metrics like step count, calories, and distance to your smartphone, the Vivoactive can use its GPS to measure your daily run and can connect to cycling sensors. The smartwatch is waterproof to 50 meters and can record swim workout metrics like number of lengths, paces by length, by interval, and for the full session. (We’ll be very intersted to see how well this works.) For those who like to golf, the Vivoactive also features maps and data for over 38,000 courses worldwide and the ability to keep score.

The Vivoactive also displays Caller ID, missed calls, texts, and more from compatible iOS and Android devices, and can act as a remote control for your smartphone’s music player. But it’s the Connect IQ app platform that has the potential to really maximize the functionality of the Vivoactive. With Connect IQ, Garmin is allowing third-party companies to build and run apps on the Vivoactive and a number of other new Garmin devices. Some examples that Garmin is touting include the calendar app, Tempo, and weather forecasts with AccuWeather.

At $250, the Vivoactive is priced competitively with Garmin’s GPS running watch, the Forerunner 220. While the Vivoactive may not collect as much running specific data as the FR 220, the new device’s fitness tracking and smartwatch features make it a more well-rounded device. The Vivoactive will be available for purchase in early 2015.

With the $140 Vivofit 2, Garmin has resolved many of the pain points and added a number of what felt like missing features of the original Vivofit. Improvements to their second-generation tracker include a backlight for the always-on display, audible inactivity alerts, a more secure clasp design and auto-syncing data to your smartphone. Though the Vivofit does not feature vibration alerts, it can send alerts causing a paired smartphone to vibrate. We will get in a test unit and determine whether accuracy has improved as well with the Vivofit 2.

Garmin is also making a big push to increase the sheer number and style of bands that can be used with Vivofit 2. The company has partnered with designer Jonathan Adler to create a line of colorful bands and features a “Style Collection” with bands using material like leather and stainless steel.

The Vivofit 2 is playing catch up with other trackers and does not have any smartwatch capabilities like Garmin’s Vivosmart. The Vivofit 2 has made some incremental improvements to the original Vivofit, but it’s hard say whether these changes really justify the extra $60.

At CES 2015, Polar announced another fitness tracker, the waterproof A300, which has swappable color silicone wristbands, automatically tracks sleep and has vibration alerts. Overall, it looks like a pretty solid fitness tracker, though $140 A300 also bears a similar look and shares many of the same features as Polar’s recently released GPS running watch, the $180 M400. By spending $40 more on the M400, you get the same device with the addition of GPS. That’s a great value and until a price drop comes along will make it hard for us to recommend the A300 over the M400.

The Withings Activité Pop packs a number of fitness-tracking features into a more traditional mechanical watch form factor than today’s plastic/rubber strapped trackers. While the Swiss-made, sapphire crystal faced original version of the Activité goes for $450, the Pop, made from less expensive materials, is priced more in line with other fitness trackers at $150.

It has a silent alarm, and a secondary interior dial to display the percent of progress made towards a daily step goal. The Pop works closely with Withings Health Mate app (only iOS for now) to display time and to back-up activity data. Swim tracking is scheduled to come to the watch/tracker with a future firmware update. The Pop comes in three colors (black, tan, and turquoise) and its replaceable battery can go for 8 months without needing a charge. It’s somewhat thick though, and a few reviewers, including Brian Bishop of The Verge, have noted that the watch face can be hard to read, and “seemed very prone to picking up reflections.” It’s available now at Best Buy and will be available via other retailers in March.

It took several months, but in late October 2014 Fitbit finally released a replacement for its recalled Fitbit Force wristband. The Fitbit Charge is very similar to its predecessor: it’s worn on the wrist, has a small display, and can track stairs climbed in addition to distance and calories burned. Also like the Force, it’ll run for about a week before needing a re-charge. New features include caller ID (when paired with a phone) and automatic sleep mode. The biggest change, though, is in the construction of the device: According to Gizmodo, Fitbit is using less stainless steel in the band and “fewer exposed adhesives”–which may solve the problem of people experiencing horrendous skin rashes from constantly wearing the Force. But it’s the kind of thing that will take weeks or months to test, so we’ll have to see.

The world of wearable trackers has shifted considerably since the Force disappeared last spring, and one of the most notable changes is the release of Apple’s HealthKit. Fitbit has chosen so far not to make its iOS app compatible. Not everyone will care about that, but it will definitely be a consideration for those who want a tracker that integrates fully with their iPhone. The Charge is available starting Oct. 27 for $130. We’re in the process of testing several other devices and will include the Fitbit once we get ahold of one.

Two fancier, more-capable Fitbit devices were announced but won’t be shipping until early 2015: the $150 Charge HR, which does optical heart rate sensing via the wristband of the tracker, and the $250 Surge, which will likely compete with other GPS running watch/smartwatch hybrid devices we’ve seen pop up this summer. The Surge has GPS built in, along with several other sensors, and will let users track their workouts and set goals. We’ll evaluate both of these once they’re available for testing.

Basis, the company that introduced optical heart rate monitoring to fitness trackers, has announced the $200 Basis Peak, their first major hardware update since being acquired by Intel. With an accelerometer that detects forward, horizontal, and vertical movement, an optical heart rate sensor, skin and ambient temperature sensors, and a perspiration sensor, this tracker provides more data than any other out there. The Peak’s sensors and software also work together to automatically distinguish and separate activity into categories (biking, running, walking, sleeping). There is a price you’ll pay for all the data types and functionality however: decreased battery life. Fitness trackers that collect less information last weeks or months, the Peak’s 24/7 health monitoring requires recharging every four days.

It has improved over its predecessor in other ways too: the anodized aluminum Peak is water-resistant for swimming and has traded the B1’s buttons for a glass touchscreen. Plus, the new optical sensor on the back accurately measures and records higher heart rates associated with exercise, which was notably missing in the B1. The Peak can act as a heart rate monitor for third-party apps, and will stream heart rate data via Bluetooth to MapMyRun, Strava, and Endomoto.

The accompanying app has been redesigned too, and features a feed of activity graphs, sleep data, and health goals/habits. The Peak will sync to iOS and Android smartphones in the background via Bluetooth LE, and thanks to a January update, now has text, email, and third-party app notifications. Basis is listed as a parter with Google Fit, but there’s no word yet on whether its device will integrate with Apple’s similar service, HealthKit. The Peak looks like a promising tracker for those who want to record and collect a ton of activity data.

Gizmodo’s Brent Rose thinks it’s the best fitness tracker out there. He says it has “massively” improved design over the B1, though the software is visually a little hard to navigate. More importantly though, he says its measurements are accurate: “Anyway, I’ve actually found the watch to be extremely accurate, much more so than other wrist wornheart rate monitors I’ve tested. I checked my pulse manually during testing and compared it to the Peak’s readings, and I would say it’s still slightly behind chest-straps in terms of accuracy, but it’s very close—typically within just a few BPM—and the convenience factor makes it far preferable.”

DC Rainmaker found some problems during his test. The unit doesn’t display distance covered while running, and the heart-rate measuring function doesn’t always automatically start when you begin exercise. Once it does kick in, the HR data is inconsistent and not always right, he said: “The HR is definitely improved over the Basis B1. But, it’s still not accurate all the time. It’s gone from an grade of an ‘F’ to a ‘D’ or ‘C-‘.” He likes the auto-sleep-detection function, but “the unit often confuses watching TV or other non-moving events for sleep.” We’re currently testing the Peak, and will publish how it compares to the Vivofit, Vivosmart, Jawbone Up24, and others soon.

The $180 InBody Band tracks many of the standard metrics we’ve come to expect from fitness trackers: steps, distance, sleep, and estimated calorie burn. What makes the InBody Band different is that the tracker uses a technology called bioelectrical impedance to estimate percent body fat, skeletal muscle mass, body mass index, and heart rate. This is the same technology used in some smart weight scales and a central feature of Jawbone’s tracker, the UP3. These are some big claims and they will need to be tested to determine if the InBody Band’s can accurate made these measurement from the wrist. The tracker is scheduled to go on sale in March 2015.

We’re very interested in Pebble’s announcement that its smartwatch will, in addition to background step- and walk-tracking, also be able to track swimming through integration with Swim.com. No other fitness trackers out there give you real, useful metrics for swim-tracking like laps and stroke rate, so if our testing goes well this may be a good choice for avid swimmers.
One big point of emphasis at September’s Apple Watch announcement was health and fitness. The Watch attempts to combine fitness tracker features with a highly advanced sport watch in a single device, but with a starting price of $350, questions regarding battery life, and a release date in “early 2015,” the Apple Watch isn’t a contender right now for our best fitness tracker pick.

The Apple Watch will be available in two sizes, 38mm and 42mm. There are three different models, and the Sport, featuring a lightweight aluminum body and elastomer band, appears to the most conducive to exercise. It has a pair of sensors commonly found in fitness trackers and sport watches, an accelerometer, and optical heart rate monitor. These sensors, along with two dedicated apps, Activity and Workout, gather a range of motion data throughout the day from routine activities to specific workout sessions.

The Activity app monitors and records activity by focusing on three daily movement goals: Move – a customized calorie-based goal, Exercise – a goal for 30 minutes of brisk activity, and Stand – a goal to stand for at least 1 minute during 12 different hours. Daily progress towards these goals is displayed with both numbers and red, green and blue rings. The Workout app, tracks progress and data from a workout and gives a summary of the session at the end, similar to many sport watches already available.

Apple claims that the watch will have the ability to learn your exercise and activity patterns, giving it the ability to deliver contextual reminders and prompts to move. David Pogue from Yahoo is reporting that the watch is water-resistant but not waterproof enough for a shower or swim. All fitness and exercise data recorded by the Apple Watch is shared with the iPhone’s Health app and can be accessed by approved third-party apps, like Nike’s. We expect other popular apps to get on board too once developers get time with Apple’s software.

With the ship date not until some time next year, the watch is still very much a work in progress. There are some important details that were not discussed at the event: Apple never said how long the battery would last, but said the included inductive charging system is “simple to charge at night.” The absence of comments regarding sleep tracking or how often optical heart rate sensor will be triggered may also speak to the battery life. Another big question is the price. It starts at $350 but the specific price range for all models of the Apple Watch wasn’t discussed. With most fitness trackers in the $100-150 range and running watches featuring GPS in the $200-500 range, it’s unclear if an expensive device without GPS can justify the extra cost.

For those interested in fitness apps rather than dedicated trackers, Apple’s new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus each have an updated motion co-processor. Along with counting steps, the new M8 co-processor can distinguish between cycling, running, and walking. It also can calculate distance, stairs, and changes in elevation with the internal barometer that measures changes air pressure. When released later this month, expect to see new and updated apps tapping into the new phones’ capabilities. Thanks to the M8 co-processor, very few dedicated trackers are able to collect more data types than the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. But keep in mind, in order to get the most accurate look at your daily activity, that phone (bigger than all previous iPhones) needs to be with you at all times.

At Google I/O conference, the company discussed plans to release a single set of APIs and an Android app to help combine data from multiple health-tracking devices. The Google Fit Platform sounds a lot like Health Kit and the Health app that Apple announced earlier in June. So far, partners for the Google Fit Platform include fitness tracker makers Withings, Nike, Basis, and Polar.

Apple has yet to announce its own hardware, but it is working on software for fitness trackers. In June, the company announced Health, a new feature of its iOS software that will be a place for iPhone users to store their health data (steps, heart rate, weight, blood pressure, calories burned, etc.) from multiple devices in one app. Its usefulness will depend, naturally, on how many device makers participate.

Along with tracking activity, sleep, and heart rate, the Zensorium Being is attempting to be the first wearable to track a difficult-to-measure metric: mood. Zensorium states the Being is able to determine mood each hour by measuring changes in heart rate, blood pressure, and heart rate variability. These claims will be difficult to verify without some extensive testing, but the being is scheduled to ship in spring 2015 and will work with select iOS and Android devices.

Sony has another fitness tracker to go along with the SmartBand SWR10. The SmartBand Talk features a built-in microphone and speaker to make/receive calls and use voice commands. It highlights daily steps and stairs on a 1.4-inch curved, always-on e-ink display. The waterproof device will be able to track sleep without needing to remember to push a button, features a reported three-day battery life, and can communicate with smartphone apps like Sony’s LifeLog. Unfortunately, the SmartBand Talk lacks a backlight and will only work with select Sony smartphones so we can’t recommend it to many people. The $170 price tag will also put this amongst the most expensive fitness trackers on the market.

A newcomer to the category is trying to stand out with a different spin on trackers: giving a wristband away for free…

A newcomer to the category is trying to stand out with a different spin on trackers: giving a wristband away for free, but charging for a subscription service that employs coaches to help motivate you. The company is called GOQii, and it will offer a six-month plan for $99 and a yearly plan for $179. For that, you’ll reportedly get to chat with a professional trainer through the accompanying app every day and talk on the phone once a month. The wristband can also vibrate when your trainer wants to positively reinforce your progress. GOQii is scheduled to arrive in the U.S. near the end of this year.

While Nike appears to be shifting from hardware to software, rival Adidas is following up their Smart Run GPS with a less expensive workout companion, the MiCoach Fit Smart. Make no mistake though, this is not a fitness tracker to calculate your daily activity. The Fit Smart, available on August 17th, is tailored specifically to those who want coaching and feedback during workout sessions, through a proprietary iOS and Android app. Though waterproof, Adidas does not recommend swimming with the device, and the battery lasts a mere five hours. The wristband will feature an optical heart rate sensor, but in order to get the most accurate distance, speed, and pace metrics, you’ll need to bring along a GPS-enabled smartphone. Without dedicated GPS and activity tracking features, we’re unsure the optical heart rate monitoring and app-based coaching make the Fit Smart worth its $200 price tag.

Movea’s new G-series fitness tracker claims it has the ability to determine if you’re standing, sitting, walking, or running. The wrist-worn tracker was deemed by The Verge a “Fitbit display paired with a Fuelband.” For runners, the ability to measure cadence and speed are potentially nice additional metrics. Movea says the accuracy of the G-Series will be better than the competition. We’re all for improved accuracy in trackers, but of course we’ll have to wait and see if Movea can back up its claims—this is just a reference design for now.

Epson, a company best known for printers, also has a couple of fitness trackers with an optical heart rate sensor. The Pulsense trackers come in two varieties: one with a display, the $200 PS-500, and a $130 option with no display called PS-100. Each device will pair with compatible Bluetooth smartphones and popular apps like Wahoo Fitness and Strava. The sensors were developed in-house at Epson and a fully charged device will be able measure 40 continuous hours of heart rate data. Each tracker has five LEDs that correspond to heart rate zones and give quick visual feedback about the intensity of your workout. This is an increasingly crowded category, so it will be interesting to see if Epson can standout with its own sensor technology and competitive battery life.

Razer also came out with a fitness tracker, the Nabu, which features two screens and touts some interesting features such as the ability to tap into web services like Foursquare and IFTTT. Notch is a system of small sensors that track activity and body motion. Delivery of haptic feedback and speed and range of motion measurements may appeal to martial artists, dancers, and physical therapists.

While still awaiting the wide release of their original Nabu fitness tracker, Razer has announced a second wrist-worn device at CES 2015, the Nabu X. Unlike the Nabu, the $50 Nabu X doesn’t have an OLED display; the rubber strap and removable sensor design strongly resembles the Fitbit Flex. The new device communicates notifications with vibrations and a trio of customizable LED lights. Razer is also touting the social aspect of the Nabu X, like the ability to swap contact info via high-five with other Nabu owners. But without millions of Nabu owners, these exchanges are likely to be extremely rare. Both Razer will be available for the general public at the end of January 2015.

The newest way to track your fitness comes in a form factor that won’t slip off your wrist or be accidentally put through the washing machine in a jeans pocket. Both Hexoskin and OMsignal are developing shirts with built-in sensors to measure and record heart rate, breathing rate, sleep, and activity data. The Hexoskin can sync up via an iOS app and Windows/Mac software. These “smart shirts” come with a few extra things to consider, like that they’re more expensive than all current trackers. The Hexoskin system costs $400 for the shirt, device, and charging cable. Currently on pre-order, OMSignal’s regular price for one shirt and device is $240. (Keep in mind you’ll probably want to buy some additional shirts.) Battery life is also significantly shorter than standard trackers with claims of 14 to 72 hours. The cost and battery life alone won’t make this a good option for most people at this time, but we’ll keep an eye on this new category of fitness tracking wearables as it develops.

What makes a good fitness tracker?

An ideal fitness tracker would include all the available sensors (an altimeter, heart rate sensor, and perspiration sensor in addition to the standard accelerometer); a screen that shows real data instead of just dots or some proprietary score (ahem Nike Fuelscore, Shinepoints, we’re looking at you); a secure wristband; minimal need for charging; effortless, cross-platform wireless syncing; an effective method to motivate you away from excessive idleness; and enough water resistance to shower and swim with. Unfortunately, this platonic ideal of the fitness tracker does not exist, so let’s break these down in order of greatest to least importance.

The most important first step in fitness tracker use may sound extremely simple, but it’s much easier said than done: Create a habit of wearing the device at all times. In order to get an accurate look at your activity, the fitness tracker needs to be with you as much as possible. Not in your jeans from yesterday or on the counter next to the shower—it needs to be attached to or worn on you. (This is part of why using a smartphone app isn’t a great idea, because oftentimes it’s in your bag or on your desk—not on your body.)

The best way to get the most out of your device is to purchase the style of tracker that suits your personality.

The best way to get the most out of your device is to purchase the style of tracker that suits your personality. Fitness trackers come in two main forms: clip and wrist devices. If you’re prone to losing keys, wallets, and other personal items, or simply don’t want the hassle of transferring the tracker for sleep tracking, a wrist-mounted tracker would be your best choice. If you’re more responsible, disciplined, and you prefer a smaller, more discrete device (or if you’re opposed to wearing one on your wrist for other reasons), we’d suggest a clip tracker. A clip is also a better choice if you spend a large portion of your day doing tasks that require repetitive hand or arm motions (such as sewing or chopping) because the accuracy of the Vivofit and any other wrist-mounted tracker will be compromised as mentioned in a few Amazon reviews.

Along with constant wear, good fitness trackers should last for close to a week without the need to recharge. While rechargeable batteries are standard in most devices, some models, including the Vivofit, contain watch-style batteries. Sure, buying batteries only to throw them away feels like an act from a bygone era, but since we get up to a full year without the hassle of charging, we’re okay with a battery powered device.

A good fitness tracker should clearly display your daily progress and activity data. Trackers range from having no readable display to an array of LED lights to OLED screens that can display legible text. The more expensive devices with the advanced displays will generally give you access to more types of data. If you want to sneak a quick glance at your data, a wrist tracker will give you quicker access to that information than a clip device. Linking to a smartphone to check is a good bonus, but it shouldn’t be the only way to get updates.

A good activity monitor should record your data in understandable units of measurement like steps, distance, altitude, and hours slept. We would suggest avoiding devices that rely heavily only on a proprietary point system (like Shinepoints and NikeFuel score). In order to perform these tasks, good trackers feature an accelerometer to measure your movement and an altimeter to determine the amount of elevation gain during your day. (Accuracy is still an issue for most activity trackers, and even for state-of-the-art running watches that feature GPS, but this will get better as algorithms and hardware improve.)

A powerful, easy-to-use mobile app and/or desktop portal software is also a very important component of a good activity tracker. Using an app or software that displays activity data in functional and clean manner makes it a joy for you to visualize and review your progress. Disorganized or confusing software makes it a hassle to understand and feels more like a waste of your time.

And who says that peer pressure is always a bad thing? The ability to connect with and be held accountable by family and friends with certain apps and software can also really help push you to achieving your goals.

Syncing and backing up your data should be as effortless and painless as possible, and that means it should be done quickly and wirelessly.

Syncing and backing up your data should be as effortless and painless as possible, and that means it should be done quickly and wirelessly. The more physical steps you must perform to accomplish these tasks, the more time you waste. Some products seamlessly sync with your fitness tracker over Bluetooth while others require you to plug in your tracker to an audio jack or complete a series of tedious tasks. Once you’ve used automatic Bluetooth syncing, every other device will feel ancient by comparison.

The best fitness trackers offer an open data format with the ability to share that data with other apps and software services. This allows your tracker to share your workout and activity data with your favorite weight loss or dieting app. Some tracker companies keep your data locked down or available in formats that don’t play nicely with these other apps or software.

Most good activity trackers will offer some kind of ability to track your sleep or at least measure how much time your wrist stays still at night. Initiating this feature generally requires a manual button push before you hit the hay. While it’s nice to have this feature, you probably won’t get too much from it considering sleep quality is a complex thing and most trackers base everything off of movement. You won’t miss much if you skip a night to charge your tracker.

Slightly more useful than sleep tracking is the ability to wake you up with vibration alarms. Your bed partner will appreciate this feature as well, as it doesn’t beep and can rouse you without waking up others who might have a different schedule.

Waterproofing is also a major bonus. It’s a good idea to take off any and all electronics when showering (even if they are water-resistant), but it’s good to have that extra insurance. Current altimeters require a small opening in the device to record the amount of stairs you go up and down. So if you want to know that data, you’ll have to settle for a device that is not waterproof.

As this product category continues to expand, fitness trackers appear to be converging with smartwatches and running watches. The ability to measure heart rate and perspiration is being incorporated into some current devices. Though these metrics are nice, for now they are just add-ons rather than must-haves when tracking your activity.

Wrapping it up

Most people will be happy with the Garmin Vivofit. For $130 (or $170 with heart monitor), you get a waterproof device to record and give visual feedback about your activity, plus its battery can last you a year before needing a change and it’s more motivating than its competitors. Unless you don’t want a device taking up space on your wrist or feel that measuring stairs is a must, the Garmin Vivofit is the fitness tracker you want.

Footnotes:

1. Android support is limited because of differences in software, as every Android manufacturer has their own chips and drivers. It’s hard to blame Garmin or Fitbit since this is more of a general Android fragmentation problem than a specific tracker company problem, but they say that things should get better when Bluetooth Smart Ready hits. This new standard will allow trackers to connect to a much larger selection of smartphones. Other devices make compromises to get around the problem of Android fragmentation, like the original Jawbone UP, which syncs via headphone jack, and the Withings, which forgoes automatic background syncing for older Bluetooth protocols that you have to activate manually every time you want to sync. If you have an older Android, you’ll just have to make do, but if you have an Apple or recent Samsung device, there’s no reason to compromise on ease of syncing when there’s no need to. Jump back.

In case anyone is wondering about the competing larklife band that hit the market recently – I wore one for about a week, returned it, and got a Fitbit One. I’ll be keeping the Fitbit One.
The larklife costs about $50 more, and does not have any capabilities that the Fitbit does not have, as far as I can tell. larklife lacks the altimeter. It’s intended to be swapped between a daytime and a nighttime band, and you charge one while using the other (the battery is in the band, not the device). Without swapping and charging, the battery will only last about a day and a half. There is no display on the device, so you must refer to a somewhat muddled smartphone app to read your data (the device syncs to the smartphone, currently iPhone only, via bluetooth).
Worst of all, the daytime band is clunky, and does not stay closed. The device attaches to the day band via an electrical connection at one end (similar to micro USB?) and a magnet at the other end. My band was constantly popping open at the “live” end. I’m not sure if they have a manufacturing issue or what but they definitely need a stronger connection at that plug. The nighttime band did not have this problem as device goes into a pocket in the soft band (actually a more comfortable band than the Fitbit nighttime band).
However, the more comfortable nighttime band is the only advantage I can think of over the Fitbit – and it’s a tiny advantage. There is no reason to purchase the larklife.

Guest

Been several months since the Force was added to the watch list. Any indication that it’s a viable alternative to the One?

Jim McDannald

It’s our new pick.

Greg Furry

The Nike Plus has one major advantage. You never have to take it off. Mine has been on since June and I only need to charge it about once a week. I even went snorkeling with it without any issues. With the fitbit it always ended up getting tossed in the laundry. I just wish it was thinner but it is no different than wearing a watch.

http://www.adammiarka.com Adam Miarka

Love the new features of the FitBit One, but it kept falling out of the new clip. The old Ultra design and clip was superior. Decided to go with the Jawbone V2 as it’s always on my wrist. They just need to add wireless sync and it would be the best band.

JJR

What about Lark?

Michael Zhao

It costs $150 and requires 2 different bracelets for day and night. Not worth it.

Michael Zhao

It requires 2 bands for day and night, has fewer sensors, and costs $150. Not worth the money or the hassle.

bill

I clip my FitBit to the waistband of my underwear rather than my jeans.. Very stable that way.

http://twitter.com/mikepetrucci Mike Petrucci

What do you guys think of the Misfit Shine? Worth waiting for or is it even best to just get the FitBit One and try it until the Shine comes out and sell the FitBit if it proves to be better?

Thanks for the full review above, I love how you guys break things down!

http://twitter.com/mikepetrucci Mike Petrucci

Disregard. I just ordered one (through your link). I had an Amazon gift card so I got it for $64 with next day shipping. Thanks again for the review!

http://twitter.com/ehnotsomuch Charity Froggenhall

I’m also interested in the Misfit Shine. Would love to hear your thoughts!

Charity Froggenhall

Had a Shine for a week & lost it. App wasn’t nearly as good as Fitbit’s. Might get a Force next year if it’s reviewed well.

CLN

I”ve been using Misfit Shine since August; the device and app are much improved since first version mentioned here: no need to touch app screen with device itself, just tap screen to sync when w/in Bluetooth range; also now automatically tracks sleep including deep sleep. It’s really nice as a motivator since it rewards speed (has an accelerometer) and sustained activity in points toward your daily goal rather than just counting steps and distance. But it’s not useful for training that requires precise stats.

http://www.theuniversalsteve.com Anonymous

I’d love to see you cover heart rate monitors.

Pato

Yeah, me too!

Einstein Edward Calvert

Definitely, this sound so cool!

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

We’re working on something in the near future. Stay tuned!

http://twitter.com/this_is_laird Laird Le

REI sells the Fitbit One…if you’re a member you get 10% dividend reward..or half off the price of the $20 membership. They also will take it back anytime if you’re dissatisfied. I’d buy there if you were interested in trying it out risk free. The Fuel Band is way over priced…I’d consider it for $100. Maybe look on Craigslist for an unwanted Xmas gift!

http://twitter.com/this_is_laird Laird Le

I’m really torn though…I like the NFB but it’s pricey and has less features. IF Nike could incorporate the Fitbit One features in the FB and make it waterproof…for sure $150 would be worth it.

Heather O

I’d love to see a comparison of the Fitbit vs the Exerspy. I just finished a two week stint of renting an Exerspy from my gym. I loved the data and had no problem with it being an armband, mostly because it’s winter. I can’t picture myself wearing it comfortably in public when warmer weather comes.

Regardless of aesthetics, the Exerspy seems to have more data on their website in terms of how the sensors work, how accurate it is, etc. I’ve yet to find any comprehensive articles or reviews that dig into the Fitbit vs Exerspy. I’m on the fence about which (if either) I should invest in.

Anonymous

Another one to add to the list that seems to be getting some good press: Basis, health and activity tracking watch:

I LOVE my Fitbit Ultra! I sent back the One because I actually love the design of my Ultra better. I wish they wouldn’t discontinue it! It lies flat under clothing (like on a bra), unlike the One. I don’t care though because I LOVE the Fitbit! I’m surprised you didn’t mention the BodyMedia in here. I love it to. I use it along with my Fitbit but it tends to irritate my arm. I think out of the two I like my Fitbit better and you get a lot more stats with the Fitbit (which is free) than with the BM (which has a monthly fee).

John T

What about the BodyMedia Fit armband? I find it’s the most convenient and comfortable to use.

We recently updated the post to include the Basis B1. The B1 has a stylish design, monitors heart rate & features a digital display. But the B1 lacks Bluetooth syncing, locks down the data and is more than twice as the Fitbit One. We still think the Fitbit One is the best in this category.

Denzyl

I read this review and went out and bought a fitbit one. After a two day trial, I found a few things lacking that this review doesn’t mention.

In the car, a 5 minute drive adds about 250 steps. The first time this happened, I thought “Oh there must be a pause feature” for driving – there’s NOT. So, I went to the web interface to delete that “activity” since it wasn’t correct but there’s no way to delete a recorded activity. You have to overwrite it with something else. I added, “Sitting” and it took away the calories but did not lower the step count (so the web interface didn’t work).

The other functional problem is with the altimeter. My 5 minute drive to the grocery store and the 5 minute drive includes a hill. The One tracks how many floors you’ve gone up and during this drive, it counted 8 floors in error. Sadly, there’s no way to edit this on their site (or on the iPhone app).

I sent an email to support, hopefully they get back to me soon.

Bill Logan

For cheapest and most basic activity tracker, I’d go with an actual pedometer. I like the Omron HJ-112, which is $23 on Amazon. If you’re tracking steps only, a pedometer clipped to your waistband is going to be more accurate than an activity tracker on your wrist. The lack of an altimeter also means you won’t run into the problem of “steps” being counted if you drive up a hill, as a recent commenter recounted.

http://twitter.com/breedm Ben Mason

I’m curious why the BodyMedia or BodyBugg devices aren’t mentioned. They’ve been around for several years. They’ve impressed me with the number of sensors (sounds similar to the Basis B1 mentioned), but I’m not too keen on a required recurring fee for using it.

Amiigo is still in production and doesn’t look like it will be out until sometime in 2014.

centhar

You did not answer the question. It’s not just my opinion, but the Bodymedia/BodyBugg/Gowear are in a league onto themselves. The others here are just glorified pedometers.

VeazieRes

I wonder the same. The BodyMedia devices seem to be recommended a lot in the weight loss communities out there, but it never seems to show up in these tracker reviews.

Anonymous

Besides size and weight, are there any advantages to using a fitbit, fuelband, etc over an iPhone? I have an arm sleeve for my phone and I take it on runs using runkeepers GPS tracking. Wouldn’t that be more accurate than calculations based on steps?

Anonymous

I have used the Ultra, Zip, and now the Fitbit One. I’m a big fan.

Here’s what I love …

– All three are much more accurate than the other cheap pedometers i have used.

Here’s what I hate(d): It was always coming loose from my pocket. I now use a small leash from http://www.GadgetLeash.com, which connects my FB One to my belt loop (I bought the one with the silver clip; my wife uses the black clamp to attach to her blouse). Their Fitbit Leash has saved me several times from losing by Fitbit.

~Jack

Jack Millan

I have used the Ultra, Zip, and now the Fitbit One. I’m a big fan. Here’s what I love:

– All three are much more accurate than the other cheap pedometers i have used.

Here’s what I hate(d): It was always coming loose from my pocket. I now use a small leash from http://www.GadgetLeash.com, which connects my FB One to my belt loop (I bought the one with the silver clip; my wife uses the black clamp to attach to her blouse). Their Fitbit Leash has saved me several times from losing by Fitbit.

~Jack

Anonymous

I just upgraded from the FitBit One to the Flex. While it doesn’t have an altimeter, I find it to be MUCH better than the One for a simple reason: I never forget it. Since I rarely have to take it off it’s always with me, which is pretty much crucial for devices like this. With my One I would sometimes forget that it was on my belt when I changed clothes, or I would forget to put it on in the morning before heading to work. It may be slightly less accurate than the One, but the Flex is easily a better device for me.

SuperSixGirl

I am a cyclist, using MapMyRide app currently without the cadence and speed sensors, or the mounted enclosure that I was using from Wahoo with my 4S, but now I have a 5. I already have a separate sleep monitor, but I am attracted to the UP since it will provide more data than the heart rate monitor that Wahoo is offering as the ONLY compatible accessory for the 5. So, I searched and found a highly rated from a company called Heart Rate Watch Company that offers what the latest kit from Wahoo for 3G thru 4S only, but for my 5, with better specs for all components, including an tilting carbon fiber enclosure and the heart monitor watch, for only $150, as opposed to Wahoo’s price of around $250. I would prefer to have the features of the UP, as it is compatible with the MMR app and gives me greater and richer data than just the heart rate watch, that will go so far as to correlate my heart activity at particular points during my rides, as well as eliminate the need for my current sleep monitor. Due to sweating and being caught in the occasional rain, water resistance is a must, and I need the bracelet so I can just wear it and not have to worry about losing a device as small as my several $130 Bluetooth headsets I got while working at AT&T (Blue Ant Q1 AND Q2, Sony MW600 and even my Altec Lansing behind-the-head stereo headset. I’m horrible at keeping track (that’s why I use OVER the ear, big Beats in wired and Bluetooth, after losing 2 pairs of Beats earbuds. My point is, I haven’t used the sleep monitor for over a year, since I am horrible at consistency. Lol. Anyway, I’m wondering if anyone has any input or opinion on the Heart Rate Watch Company? They also offer a backup battery to mount on my bike so I can leave the GPS map, the usual cycling metrics and the health/fitness metrics both ON and OFF my bikes.

Jack

Any more thoughts on the Withings Pulse? Looks very nice!

Jim McDannald

Our post now addresses the Pulse.

Rune Aletheia

What about the Amiigo? It’s sounding more and more awesome with each update.

TsuaSai

Amiigo sounds great but from what I hear it won’t be out until summer of 2014 for non backers. Its just keeps getting pushed off and off. I have been waiting for a while. But I am tired of waiting. Also they have been bad with answering peoples questions. So I am wanting to get something else for now. I don’t like this endless waiting game.

Benjamin Baker

I’m certainly interested to see how this pans out with Withings. I like the design of that device better.

breedm

I just got my Fitbit on Friday and already I’m a little miffed that I can’t access my own data. $49 to download my daily totals, and I’m not even allowed to access my intraday details, but partner apps can? I would like to see data-access play some part in the analysis of these trackers.

Charity Froggenhall

I can get my daily data via the iPhone? There is a premium analysis on the Fitbit site, but your steps, sleep, etc. is all there.

breedm

But it’s all stuck in the app. I want to take my data with me where I can perform my own analysis on the data, and use it with other data streams, such as weather or info from my wife’s pedometer. I’d like to be able to get it by downloading a CSV or something at the least.

Rachel

I wouldn’t recommend the Fitbit One, it is inaccurate as it is sensitive to vibration. Mine randomly adds activity to my daily totals.

nofitbit

I dislike the Fitbit. It does not really track anything except steps and elevation changes — a glorified step counter. Unlike the bodymedia tracker, it does not accurately count burn (the disadvantage of the bodymedia is that it can only be worn on the left arm). The fitbit is easy to forget and ends up in the wash, which means you have to replace it on a fairly regular basis. $100 is too much for something that does little except track your steps. You have to manually add other activities, and the manual input is based on a “guess” of what the average person burns doing that activity. Also, the fitbit food tracking system is very rudimentary and pretty much useless. Bodymedia exceeds the fitbit on that as well.

http://bloodnok.net/ dennis bloodnok

you really have to be kidding that this is the best. the dongle often claims i’ve climbed a flight of stairs when i haven’t or missed one i have. and their pathetic attempts at both an ios app and a webapp are to be missed if at all possible. i don’t give this garbage even one star.

Bassem

what about lifetrak move c3000

holycalamity

FYI, FitBit will be releasing the Force bracelet, which is basically the Flex with a digital display and an altimeter. That, at least in theory, would make it a happy medium between the One and the Flex.

yeah.. that blows. I’m ready to shell out the cash and they keep putting off the release. Oh well.. 2014 will be here before we know it!

Allan C. Estrella

How about updating it with the new Fitbit Force. Thanks

Jim McDannald

The post has been updated.

Sam Cook

I’ve been using the Fitibit One for nearly a year, and have had a positive experience with it, but I thought I’d add a few notes.

-The article says that the clip is grey, when actually the clips come in black and burgundy to match the available colors of the device.
-There is a tendency for the silicon cover on the clips to separate around the metal underneath; it only recently started happening on mine after 11 months of daily use, but I’ve seen other people complain about it happening much sooner. This doesn’t prevent the clip from attaching securely, but could cause the metal to wear on your clothes. Based on some user reviews I’ve seen, Fitbit support will sometimes replace the clip for free, but if not it’s $15 to get a new one.
-The clip attaches pretty firmly, but orienting it so that the device is to the inside of your pocket or clothing will greatly reduce the chance that it will catch on something and pop off during the day.
-I know another user who has put her Fitbit One through the washer and dryer twice without any ill effects. I wouldn’t recommend counting on that level of resilience, but for what it’s worth the case and device seem to be pretty good at keeping water out.

panzer

i look forward to see if the Polar Loop is a worthy competitor in a crowded field of fitness trackers

Jim McDannald

We talk about the Polar Loop in our updated post.

Brian D

I have a Jawbone Up and I have to say I’ve been pretty disappointed in the reliability. I’ve had it replaced once because it just died. And i woke up earlier this week to find that the button on the replacement just broke off. Fortunately, Jawbone has been great about sending warranty replacements but several of my teammates in the app have jumped ship to other platforms so I’m considering a switch.
I like the idea of the Fitbit One because I could wear it during a soccer game or while rock climbing. Both of these activities require my wrists to be free of any devices and they are my main exercises. I also like the wireless sync feature and altimeter.

CT

I upgraded from a Fitbit Flex to the Fitbit Force a little over a week ago and love it. With the addition of the OLED display, I’ve also been able to replace my watch as well. I wear it 24/7 and use the alarm to wake me up without having to disturb my wife. I also use the alarm remind me of specific daily events. I enjoy viewing my sleep patterns to see how many times I’m “restless” or “awake”. I’m a member of a local running club and regularly run 20+ miles/week. The Flex was very secure and I never had any problems with it falling off. I suspect the Force, with a similar clasping system, will prove to be just as secure. Lastly, I like how it syncs seamlessly with MapMyRun.

Jim McDannald

We agree with you, CT. The Fitbit Flex is our favorite.

Malbec

can you please update this section! Your reviews were very useful, now there are many new products. Thanks

Jim McDannald

We’ve updated the post.

ClosetKlingon

Been several months since the Force was added to the watch list. Are there any indications that it’s a viable alternative to the One?

Jim McDannald

We’ve got a refresh of the post coming out soon.

http://www.techipedia.com/ tamar

This article needs some updating to consider the newer hardware (e.g. the Withings, which I own and like but am not a huge fan compared to the next product I’m about to reference).

While Striiv doesn’t really seem to support it these days (they seem to favor the Android/iOS apps), I would love for this article to consider the Striiv Smart Pedometer (not to be confused with Striiv Play, which is what you wrote about – this is the Smart Pedometer: http://www.striiv.com/products/striiv/). I believe it blows the Fitbit/Jawbone out of the water, but I’d love for you guys to take a good look at it and let me know if you agree.

It’s not the ugly Striiv Play. It’s a great product with built-in extras that truly motivate the wearer. Please check it out and let me know if you agree.

Jim McDannald

We’re almost finished with our picks and current thoughts on fitness trackers.

http://www.techipedia.com/ tamar

Thanks Jim. I hope that means you’ve considered evaluating the Striiv Smart Pedometer as part of your revised picks. No one ever gives it love and it surprises me. I have zero relationship to the company so this shouldn’t be seen as a PR play, but I’ve also tried a few fitness trackers and nothing compares to it in terms of keeping me interested and motivated. (It has game play, races, challenges throughout the day, and donations are given to three charities based on your activity. It’s quite a cool product.)

Jim McDannald

The post is updated and we talk a bit about the Striiv devices,

http://www.techipedia.com/ tamar

“While we applaud them on their original ideas in the category, we think the instantaneous feedback provided by a wrist mounted device and seamless syncing beats out gamification.”

Meh, you clearly didn’t use the product. There is ALSO instantaneous feedback with the device. Gamification is an extra element, not the primary purpose of the device. And the gamification is *hugely* motivational. It beats out other pedometers I’ve used by far because you’re constantly going back and being challenged (e.g. “Take another 100 steps!”) Does the Fitbit Force do that?!

I go to The Wirecutter because I like to get informed purchase decisions. Please do me and others the courtesy of evaluating the device rather than providing an opinion that indicates that you’re guessing how it works rather than showing that you’ve actually used it.

http://www.techipedia.com/ tamar

Wow Jim, did you really delete my criticism of the lack of consideration and evaluation of a product, rather injecting your own opinion into the article without actually using said device? I have just lost complete respect for The Wirecutter and will convey this to your executive leadership–who, buy the way, I worked with at Gawker.

You fail to recognize that I have no (!) relationship at all with this company. I have a pretty strong affinity to the product, and I believe that users of the products will be converts. But I reiterate what you’ve deleted: I come to the Wirecutter to make informed purchase decisions. I cannot do so if someone is going to use 2 of 5 devices and will recommend his favorite among the ones he’s used, simply discounting another product because he doesn’t want to try it.

Michael Zhao

Tamar, Brian and I made the decision to delete your comments because they were disrespectful and added nothing to the conversation. Here’s what you said: “I go to The Wirecutter because I like to get informed purchase decisions. Please do me and others the courtesy of evaluating the device rather than providing an opinion that indicates that you’re guessing how it works rather than showing that you’ve actually used it.”

You will note that we previously evaluated the Striiv hands on in the original iteration of this guide and determined it was not as good as the Fitbit for most people but was a good option for some people who would prefer to spend less. If it works for you, that is good. I’m happy for you. But for you to come in here and insult our work on the basis that you personally have a strong affinity for a particular product is not constructive feedback. It is trolling and we have a strict no-trolls policy for our comments section.

If you would like to rephrase your comment in a constructive manner, we’d be happy to hear you out.

http://www.techipedia.com/ tamar

Sorry, you (and Brian) and I will disagree on that point. My comment was not trolling. Trolling is being a dick. I simply said that I found the lack of consideration troublesome and it did not give me the information I needed to make an informed purchase decision because the product requested was not evaluated.

I realize this is your passion project, but you’re reading too much into what I tried to say. In my eyes, it was professional but disagreeable. I honestly did not expect it to offend any of you–it was simply a firmer request to give you guys something to think about and reevaluate. I expected the writers to have some thicker skin since there was no harm intended in saying what I said. I apologize that it didn’t come across that way.

Sadly, I guess I’ll revise or not send the email I’m working on to Brian since Brian left his $0.02 here. But the bottom line for me is this: I didn’t ask for more than consideration. Instead of consideration, I felt that it was blown off with an update to the article that felt a bit offensive to me as the reader who made the request–and then my comments were deleted. Perhaps you can try to see it from my side too.

Have a good way as well and good luck with your site.

brian lam

Tamar, thanks for reading. We stand by our work. And as someone who worked at gawker, you should appreciate that we dont try to test everything ourselves, when indeed, some stuff isn’t worth testing. Jim is a dr and a college running coach and writer. Peter Ha, who assisted us on this piece, is one of the most knowledgable writers around. We wrote this piece knowing that if we’d tested the other few, it would not add significant data, because we chose to reference, as you can see in our guide, the natural limitations of the devices and the opinions of solid reviewers who we trust.

I know when you and I worked at gawker, it was cool to shit talk places and people without being constructive, but that’s not how I really want to live now. Your comment was angry, and it seemed like you were taking your emotions out on us. If you do that, I will delete your posts, because I dont have time for that shit.

Have a good day

hoppernet123

NB – The Basis B1 does have an IPhone and Android app, and does offer bluetooth syncing.

Jim McDannald

We talk about the B1 in our update. We wish that it could sync a bit faster and didn’t require the button pushes.

Michael Sandry

Jim, what tracker is best for swimming, biking and running? I’m thinking the B1 but would appreciate your thoughts.

Jim McDannald

Not sure that any tracker is going to give you any meaningful swimming metrics. I haven’t had time to ride a bike with the B1 yet, but they claim to be able to automatically calculate your time running & biking.

I have a Basis now, and I’ve really enjoyed it. I do wish the syncing was faster. It is if you plug it in, though. I really find it beneficial that it tracks my sleep without any button pushes. I sleep much more often than I sync, so I’d weight that in favor of Basis, personally.

Nostromo

Should change to “overstated”: “The importance of a wrist-mounted design cannot be understated when it comes to fitness trackers.”

Jim McDannald

Thanks, Nostromo.

Jon

I am surprised you didn’t even mention the Fitbit Zip. It doesn’t have the altimeter feature, but otherwise does just about everything – and has a 6 month battery life.

Jim McDannald

It’s in the Competition section, right after the Flex.

bryanjclark

AFAIK, the Fitbit Force’s lack of waterproofness doesn’t relate to having a screen, it relates to having an altimeter – because an altimeter requires a tiny hole to allow the device to detect ambient air pressure. (Source: this podcast, where a Fitbit designer is talking about that exact design tradeoff: https://soundcloud.com/lets-make-mistakes/118-dick-in-a-blox#t=4:10 )

Jim McDannald

Thanks for sharing the podcast and information.

Daehder

Personally, the thing that makes me hold back the most is that I like to ride my bike, and no activity tracker that I have seen automatically and accurately tracks biking. Maybe that’s too much to ask, but it still makes me pause

http://arijaycomet.com/ Ari Jay Comet

Great article! Your points are SPOT on … I’ve tested a half dozen trackers lately for my blog and could not agree more. Check out http://arijaycomet.com for my reviews– they echo what was said here. Thanks for sharing… Fitbit is #1

Brooke

My main type of exercise is swimming laps is there any fitness tracker that can be used in the pool? Most of the ones I’ve seen say no but I didn’t know if anyone has tried it or not.

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

The Force is splash proof, but not fully submersible. I’ll see if the experts have a waterproof/swim pick!

Jim McDannald

Currently only a handful of trackers are waterproof (Fitbit Flex, Misfit Shine, Polar Loop). We haven’t tested trackers in the pool but after reading their official documentation, none of them have the ability to count laps. The Shine counts the amount of time you spend swimming but that’s it. If you would like to record you swim workouts, the options that I’ve found online are the Garmin Swim (http://sites.garmin.com/swim/), the Finis Swimsense Performance Monitor (http://www.finisinc.com/equipment/electronics/swimsense.html) and an unreleased Indiegogo funded product called Instabeat (http://instabeat.me). Beyond these devices, you’re starting to get into GPS multi sport watch territory.

dradma

I have a Garmin Swim and use it regularly for laps. It is pretty good at counting laps but has some issues with stroke type, etc. I guess if you are a very good swimmer it might be better. I recently received a Fitbit Force and although it can’t be used for laps you can integrate Garmin Connect with the Fitbit dashboard via plugin. Seems to work fine but simply notes the swim as “very active” time.

Did you test the Lifetrack C410? It seems to do a lot of the same things (steps, calories, heartrate, sleep) and also has a watch. I’d be interested to see how it compares to fitbit flex or jawbone up.

Jim McDannald

We’ll be sure to take a look at reviews and gather some information about the Lifetrak C410 for our next update.

Basil Registers

The Basis band absolutely does measure heart rate (accurately) during exercise. I have used it during soccer, treadmill, elliptical trainers etc and it is very unusual for it to lose the pulse reading.

In my opinion the Basis band is not just better than all of the other trackers here, it absolutely blows them away. It is also far more accurate and cheaper than the recent Adidas smartrun.

Michael Zhao

Thanks for your anecdote, Basil. But Basis itself does not make that claim because they didn’t design it to do that.

Basil Registers

What is your point? My experience is just as valuable as in the cited review – where the guy says he didn’t even fit the watch tightly. Fitting it tightly is what makes it work during intense exercise. Longitudinally it is excellent, giving the same readings during workouts of similar intensity; and it compares extremely well with chest straps and finger based oximeters. Whether designed to or not, it works, and after all numbers of steps is error prone and not very useful as a metric of exercise.

http://www.aquademica.se/mogel/ Mögel

Interesting to see … thank you it’s well done , well written article Mögel

Bob

A fantastically informative article. Thank you.

Douglas Johnson

I have been looking at fitness trackers for a couple of years. Right now I am plodding along with three heart rate monitors, a Cardiosport, a Garmin, and a Polar; using Excell to track my progress. I recently bought a Samsung Galaxy 3, hoping to get my database more mobile, but Android’s database program has abysmal documentation and I am going to have to work around to Access on my desktop to keep the records I need. I have about settled on the Fitbit Force, but I already have the Polar chest strap and that becomes a consideration when I read that Fitbit charges to download from their database. Comments?

DavidB23

Yes; for a simple csv export of YOUR data; they charge $40 a year. Ridiculous if you ask me.

Eric Arnold

Thanks for helping me decide on the Force in such a crowded field. So far so good. Yes, after a week the band is still fussy to close but it has not come loose on its own. You provided a link to compatible devices so I should have known, but, my iPhone 4 is not compatible. Only the 4s or newer will sync. Not a huge deal because the BT dongle for my home PC is painless.

JohnL

I have had a Fitbit One, Flex and Force and cannot say enough good things about all of them. And Fitbit’s customer service is absolutely superb. I’ve dropped 15lbs so far…

http://www.drippyink.com/ Chad Fenwick

Started biking and wondering if a activity tracker would be a good idea. If so which one?

Chelsea Clippinger

The real question for me when looking at these is: will it fit my wrist? I have a 5 1/2 inch wrist circumference, which always leaves me with an annoying “watch tail” or means that the watch face (and attached leather/plastic/rubber that flows into the rest of the band) is too large to wrap comfortably around. Would that give me trouble here?

Eric Arnold

Hmm, you are right at the lower limit of their Small sizing. See http://www.fitbit.com/force/specs .
The photo there shows how it will overlap. I don’t notice the overlap as any sensation but I’ve only got an inch or so of it (Large size, 7.5″ wrist, hits about the middle of adjustment range for me).

chris ostrowski

what about the burns reported by so many people who wore the Fitbit Force? How is it still on the market with such a dangerous flaw? And how can you make it your number one pick when this is unresolved? I’m looking to buy my first wristband and just can’t get past the fact that the Force is burning people’s skin.

Jim McDannald

Do you have some links? We have not heard about this.

chris ostrowski

Fitbit’s Facebook page has a lot of posts about it (recent posts by others). I read about it on other sites as well. The company has only managed canned responses apparently and offers to replace them.

Jim McDannald

We’ll look into it.

Icerabbit

There’s also a thread over at fitbit community.

Close to one hundred pages long, with dozens upon dozens of identical complaints, where the fitbit force causes a rash at the metal conact area, often so severe that requires medical attention, after about a month of use, doesn’t heal for weeks and will takes months to clear up.

My spouse’s fitbit force is going back to fitbit for a refund due to the rash that developped.

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

Yep we put it in the update above. Thanks!

Mike N.

I lost my Fitbit Once in early December and replaced it with a Fitbit Force, which I have since worn constantly, other than when showering.

I have not experienced any burns or skin irritation, but then again I wear it fairly loose on my wrist, and not nearly as tight as I would wear a watch.

@Mobilethinker

Big miss on the Polar Loop, which also pairs with a heart rate monitor to get accurate calorie burn from “stationary” exercise like spinning, etc.

Concerned Citizen

Don’t buy the Force yet. They are having to issue refunds/exchanges for some of the devices because of a rash/burn left on wearers’ wrists. FYI.

Really a shame because I, too, had come to the conclusion that it was the best of the offerings out there.

DavidB23

Skip the FitBit Force. Getting the clasp to work is a bigger deal than this review reveals. If you do get it to clasp, it will fall off frequently (every day for me). So far I have always been able to find mine when it falls off; but at some point Im just gonna leave it on the ground. Worst design of any wrist worn device I’ve seen. How hard could it be to put a proper watch band on this thing? Junk.

JNM

All you need to do is press between the center of the 2 closure columns to lock it in place… once you figure out that trick, it will never fall off

Chiming in here… I received the fitbit force for Christmas, and I loved it until I developed the nastiest rash on my arm. I switched wrists, stupidly thinking it was something else, and the rash I developed on my right wrist is worse than the one on my life. I do not have a nickel allergy, so I don’t know what it really is. It’s almost like a chemical burn. Either way, I complained and they’re very accommodating with the return.

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

Yep we’re fully aware and noted this in our update box above. Hopefully Fitbit fixes this issue and due let us know how your replacement works out!

Jill

I am looking for a fitness tracker that does, heart rate, distance, sleep pattern, etc., I also want one that is waterproof so I can wear it in pool or sea.
What would be your best recommendation please.

MQ

The main problem with the Fitbit Force is not the annoying difficulty in getting it to clasp but the really irritating fact that it so EASILY flies off. Do not expect to have it more that a month before losing it. I loved my Force but after three flie offs, it is finally gone. . The reviewer obviously did not wear it for long. Recall time!

Bill

I just wanted to add myself to the number of people who have had a rash form on their wrist from the Force. I got it for Christmas and this week noticed that the rash was forming on my wrist. It’s unfortunate because I loved using the Force. I’ve grown to love the silent alarm in the morning and being able to track data on the wristband. Fitbit was quick to respond after filling out a form online. They are mailing me a check for $140 along with a prepaid FedEx envelope to send the Force back. Hopefully they will have a redesign soon because I’m already missing it on my wrist!

Have been wearing my Force 24/7 since December (so 3 months), have no rash and have never once had it just fly off. Been really enjoying it!

Trebz

Same here. No issues at all. I have very sensitive skin, and was worried about it when I saw the article.

Marius Piedallu van Wyk

I had my Force for 2 months, then a rash started forming. I knew about the possibility, but as I’ve never had any allergies in my life, I thought it would not happen to me. I stopped wearing it immediately, but the rash got much worse before going away eventually. (PS: I wore mine in the southern hemisphere… it was hot hot hot. Perhaps that caused the infectious rash…)

It also did come off a few times while I played with my daughter and in the process of putting my backpack on (as the straps kept hooking).

They are refunding it and I’ll wait until they acknowledge the not-so-isolated-as-they-say problem and fix it with a new model, then I will get it again. I loved it otherwise.

jess1992

do these trackers as far as exercise goes only monitor steps? im looking for a tracker for fitness classes/workouts(squats,plank,leg raises) not just running and walking but there are so many to read about im lost!

Zeke

One thought on the ‘allergy.’ I noticed a slight rash shortly after switching to the fitbit. I washed it well and changed hands for a week or so and it went away. I’m guessing that it was a fungus (like athlete’s foot) that was kept moist because I was wearing the watch 24×7 and keeping it to tight. Now I wear it loosely and wash it regularly and the problem hasn’t resurfaced.

JNM

I thought I’d add my input… I’ve owned and worn the Fitbit Force daily for over a month now and I have experienced no irritation whatsoever… i usually wear it all day and take it off before bed

MilaXX

I swim and do water aerobics primarily. I need waterproof. I only see 2 have this feaure fitbit and Waterproofed Nike+ FuelBand SE . Am I missing something?

Winfield

AVOID the Force – over 650 customers have self reported awful rashes, likely THOUSANDS in total. Check out the Amazon reviews too – over 70 posts that are 1 STAR and mention “rash.” Typically there is a 30 day lag from 1st wearing the Force to seeing the first signs so be avoid, tell friends, it is not worth it. Shame on you James park (CEO) and Fitbit for not stopping sales after 5 WEEKS of reports of this issue and no material explanation!

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

Yep, we have an update box above stating the skin irritation issues. Thanks!

ThinktheForceShouldbeRecalled

Congratulations for posting the WAIT on the tracker… NOT only does it harm people, the clasp is defective and keeps falling off. People are losing their $130.00 device b/c of a flaw KNOWN since December…

The burns are HORRIBLE, trust me YOU don’t want one… I returned mine to Target (Fitbit customer service was no help in the early days – December) I bought the Polar Loop and am very happy with it.

Icerabbit

Maybe you could remove crown from the Force as the best tracker title, because every Force has been officially recalled as of this afternoon 02/21/2014.

Fitbit is still low-balling the number of affected people, but they finally got it, that their tracker was burning people’s wrists severely and that the stream of affected people was only growing.

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

Yep we’ve added that to our update box above. Thanks!

http://www.herbietown.com Christopher Herbert

I have the Jawbone UP24. It’s great except for 1 thing: it can’t count steps taken while pushing a stroller or a grocery cart. So if you have kids and you take them out for a walk in the stroller, don’t count on the UP24 to count your steps. It seems to rely on swinging your arm for the stepcount. I wish there were a way to get GPS in there to measure instead. Workaround solution is to put it on your ankle or slide it through a shoelace.

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

Would it work attaching it to the stroller or grocery cart? Not suggesting this as an option, just curious.

http://www.herbietown.com Christopher Herbert

No, attaching to stroller or grocery cart doesn’t help. It needs to swing back and forth like your arm. Best bet is threading through your shoelace or putting it on your ankle.

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

Gotcha. Thanks for the feedback!

Eric Arnold

Nice tip about the shoelace. The Force has the same limitation. The accelerometer algorithm appears to sense a swinging arm rather than any motion. But note this also cuts down on false input from, say, driving your car. I get zero or close to zero added steps during my commute without having to add any manual entries.

Will this category be phased out when fitness hardware and software features are introduced to our smartphones? I loved and relied on my Fitbit One, but it fell off my belt and I don’t need to drop $80 over and over.

I think as smartphones advance they will include more and more health/fitness features, but they’re not quite there yet. And phones are getting bigger, which means if you want to go for a jog you have to figure a way to keep your phone on you while also remaining minimal. Food for thought! Thanks!

tonykaye1

Bump!

Phil

Do you have a timetable for a new pick here? I was one of the unlucky few (many?) that developed a rash with the Force. I’m tempted to go back to the Flex, but I’d really like to see what you guys have to say…

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

We’re still researching, but our previous pick was the Fitbit One, and here is what we had to say about it:

“The Fitbit One is our favorite clip-on tracker. It performs just as well as the Force, though it’s a lot easier to lose or accidentally run through a rinse cycle.”

If you can sit tight for a bit longer, we should have something in the near future!

Michael Zhao

It’s been updated!

Denzyl Balram

“A good activity monitor should record your data in understandable units of measurement like steps, distance, altitude, and hours slept. We would suggest avoiding devices that rely heavily only on a proprietary point system (like Shinepoints and NikeFuel score).”

The Shine does track steps, distance, and hours slept so that sentence is wrong. When you tap on the shine points in the app, it’ll tell you the details. And the sleep info is shown when you scroll down on each day. Not sure why you guys would post inaccurate info like this. For what it’s worth, I’ve found it to be accurate.

Michael Zhao

So does the Fuelband. The keyword there is “rely heavily.” Yes, they track steps, but the main thing they’re pushing is Shinepoints. Also, as you see in the graph, the Shine was among the least consistent trackers we tested.

Hugo Bayr

nice, i need one

Bob R

Thanks for the fantastic coverage of this topic, and for calling out the vibrating silent alarm/idle notification information that was particularly important to me. You’re earned the spot as the tech and gadget review site I rely on for purchase, and am more than happy to purchase through your affiliate links to support the site. You make my life easier, explain the “why’s” of your recommendations and alternatives, and help me not to waste money on the wrong purchase.

I’m currently using the Fitbit Force as a wrist alarm that doesn’t wake my family in the morning. It’s great except it’s hard to change alarm settings because I have to use my phone with both bluetooth and an internet connection. And, of course, it’s not even on the market due to the skin irritation issues that led to a recall.

I may stick with the Force until a company like Apple releases a reasonably priced smart watch with…
* Watch and silent alarm
* Mp3 player
* Full featured bluetooth “headset” that lives on the wrist
* Complete health monitor – even maybe including health information and diagnosis based on fancy things like oxygenation levels, heart rate variability, etc

Zahid

For those of us who own the Force and haven’t experienced any problems, do you still see it comparing favorably with the Garmin? Or does the Garmin surpass it independently of the recall?

Michael Zhao

I suggest reading the Flaws section and figuring it out for yourself. It’s a question of convenience (not having to charge, better strap, waterproof) vs features (vibration alerts/alarms, smartphone notifications, better software)

Garrett Heaton

While not a “fitness” product specifically you should really look at the Pebble smart watch. https://getpebble.com/ (classic plastic, I don’t like the steel, personal preference though)

“In a perfect world, we would be able to find a tracker that is worn on the wrist[Check]; is waterproof[Check, 5 ATM]; and has wireless syncing [Check Bluetooth 4.0], a legible screen[Check, E-paper, visible in full sun], comprehensive app support[Check, just launched their app store], and a long battery life [Mine lasts about a week between charges].”

It also has a back-light, accelerometer and I’m sure a few other things I don’t know about. I’d strongly recommend checking it out, I love mine and use it for sleep tracking using an app called Morpheuz (http://www.mypebblefaces.com/apps/9400/7424/).

Hope this helps!

John123John

you’re right. Smart watches seem like the perfect fitness tracker. My one concern is do I want to be wearing something that nice and potentially nice around for days straight, in the shower, exercising, etc.

The Moto360 is so close to perfect but wtf is up with that battery life and dated internals?!?! Can Google commit to developing hardware already?! It might be time to board the Apple express…

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

We do review the Pebble. It’s been our Best Smartwatch pick for a while (first Generation Pebble, then Pebble Steel).

While the Pebble Smartwatch is neat and has some basic fitness tracking abilities, it cannot compete with a dedicated fitness tracker like the Vivofit. I LOVE my Pebble, but it has too many shortcomings in the fitness department. Morpheuz doesn’t always work properly, lots of apps require a secondary companion app on your phone which can be a pain (not to mention costly). I was going to try out the Heart Rate app on my Pebble and it said I needed the Heart Rate for Pebble iPhone app, which is $1.99 and has no reviews whatsoever. Also, many of the features you can pay extra for are already available in the form of currently built-in iOS functionality (HealthBook) or a regular iPhone app (Runkeeper, Breeze).

I would say it’s worth checking out if you already own a Pebble and want to see how it works out for you instead of buying a fitness tracker too, but when it comes to serious fitness tracking, the Pebble cannot compete with the tracking devices currently on the market.

Gary D

Just read your review. You don’t mention the LifeTrak C410. It too has a battery that lasts for year, is water proof down to 90 meters, has a heart rate monitor, lives on your wrist, can monitor your sleep without telling it and has a price point of just $99 dollars. It also comes in a variety of colors and additional bands can be purchased. I happen to have the fitbit one and it works me. I have been looking into the lifetrak C410 because I like the lives on your wrist. Your thoughts?

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

Will forward this along. Thank you for the feedback!

Jim McDannald

Hi Gary-

Thanks for your comments. After looking at a number of reviews, comments and features of the LifeTrak C410, we decided it did not make the cut to be included on this update. While it does sport some nice features at a reasonable price, there seemed to be too much missing. First and more most, a dedicated LifeTrack app. Yes, while it works with Argus, we feel more comfortable recommending hardware makers that create and support their own software. The lack of an Android app and a lot complaints about the darkness of the display kept it from making our list. We’ll keep our eyes on LifeTrak to see if they make improvements in the future.

Izzi

Hi Jim

I was wondering if the Gramon VivoFit can log food like the FitBit Flex?

Jim McDannald

Thanks to a partnership and compatibility with the MyFitnessPal app, Garmin Vivofit owners are now able to log food.

Jim McDannald

Hi Gary-

With the recent improvement of the LifeTrack Zone C410, we’ve included it our “The competition” section. Just thought you would like to know.

Jeff

I really surprised you did not look at the Polar Loop, which like the Garmin, not only counts steps, but also connects to a separate heart rate strap. I see you cited DCRainmaker as a sorce– he also did one heck of a write-up on the loop.

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

You should read the guide

“For those who want their fitness tracker to provide more information during serious exercise and prefer a display that works better in low light than Vivofit, the Polar Loop might be worth a look. The Loop measures the standard array of activity data and, similar to the Vivofit, it can display heart rate. While Polar’s $100 wrist tracker requires the purchase of an additional $55-60 chest strap, it’s one of only two trackers that can accurately monitor and record your heart rate data during vigorous exercise.”

Jeff

Thank you Tony– I missed the paragraph.

boyasunder

Just got the Vivofit. As in, like 2 hours ago. It seems pretty nice so far, but I’m noticing one possible issue.

I was having consistent sync failures right after I set it up. After much trial and error, I believe I have discovered that any time I sync it while playing music from my iPhone 5 over my bluetooth headphones (Jaybird BlueBuds X), the sync fails. If I pause it, things sync up just fine.

Yeah, that seems absurd,but I’ve tried it a number of times now, and I can reliably get it to fair or succeed based soley on whether my podcast app is paused or not. Headphones connected but no music transmitting: sync works fine. Headphones playing music: sync starts, and fails.

Just thought you’d want to know about this possible bug. I’m going to report to Garmin as well.

Jim McDannald

Thanks, we’ll keep an eye on this finding.

http://jonathan-peterson.com/ Jonathan Peterson

the withings pulse exercise tracker has been updated with an o2 sensor and watch band that fixes some of the drawbacks. Looks like a nice device now.

Jim McDannald

Thanks, Jonathan. We’ve noted the changes and will be getting a hands-on soon to check things out.

Bob C

Is this an old review? I’ve owned a Shine since Dec 2013, I also own a Fitbit Flex since Jan 2014 (work wellness program freebie). I wear both 24×7 (yeah I know…) I realize you reviewed Fuel and not the Flex – but I believe they use same tech and algorithms. There appear to be some facts omitted regarding the Shine. (no I do not work for Misfit nor have any vested interest.)

– The Shine supports BOTH Android and IOS.
– The Shine does *not* need to contact the smart phone. It will sync up to about 20 ft from the smart phone.
– The Shine automatically tracks sleep. Fitbit requires you to manually log sleep, or manually enable or disable sleep mode.
– Accuracy is improving (there’s been 4 or 5 firmware updates since December)
– Shine does consistently track lower number of steps than the Fitbit Flex. But, I believe the Fitbit reads high. The Flex seems to be more sensitive to vibration and other non-physical activity. Examples: riding a motorcycle or using a mouse or keyboard. I get a huge number of ‘free’ steps from the motorcycle during my commute. But removing the Fitbit every time I get on the bike is contradictory to your biggest pro of the Garmin, “leave it on and forget about”
– Shine allows tracking activities that many others do not. Swimming, cycling, playing soccor or tennis. (work in progress)
– Shine can be tossed in your pocket or sock, etc and read the same as wearing on your wrist if you tell it how you are wearing it. It’s more anomaly resistent in your pocket – but you may be easier to lose and I’ve had it attach itself to my car keys because it’s magnetized…
– Flex wrist band gets snagged in sheets while sleeping, it’s come off several times while sleeping and I am not alone amongst my family and friends.

I do like the Fitbit infrastructure far better than the Shine. I “compete” with family and friends who also own Fitbit products, I’m alone with the Shine. The Fitbit Web Dashboard is vastly superior to the Shines limited smart phone app. The Shines smart phone app is improving however. Hopefully a Web page is next.

Jim McDannald

Hi Bob-

Thanks for the comments. We’ve now updated our guide to reflect the availability of the Misfit app on both Android and iOs. Since the Shine no longer needs physical contact to sync, that portion of the writeup is gone. Unfortunately, this is such a big category that we can’t list out every one of a tracker’s features. We’ll be sure to keep a close eye on the improvements and changes to Misfit Shine over upcoming months.

Jim McDannald

Thanks, Pass. We’ve made the correction.

evieb

Just a quick point regarding the various products that list sleep tracking as part of their lineup – for the most part (and maybe there’s new tech that I don’t know about yet), they consider the amount of time you’re not moving = you’re sleeping.
If you’re like me and have a sleep-related movement disorder (ex: Periodic Limb Movement Disorder, RLS/WED, etc…) this option is beyond worthless. I have tried so many products *because* I have sleep disorders and being able to track my actual sleep would be incredibly helpful, but every product I’ve tried reports that I’m awake (and often jogging or running) all night. A few of the products that have the ability, have even ‘scolded’ me for not getting enough sleep.
I know this will not be an issue for most people, but just an FYI if you have similar sleep disorder(s).
AND if you are aware of a sleep tracker that does not use movement/lack of movement to ‘detect’ sleep, please let me know!

Jim McDannald

Thanks for the comment Evieb. The only tracker currently available that may have the right to claim sleep tracking is the Basis B1 and it’s optical heart rate monitor. Scientific and sleep show that heart rate changes can be corresponded to different phases of sleep. A sleep specialist had nice things to say about Basis in an article after testing it against. other trackers. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-christopher-winter/sleep-tips_b_4792760.html) Hopefully in the future more trackers will be able to live up to claims they make.

evieb

Hi Jim, thanks for the information about the Basis B1! I’m not familiar with this tracker at all, but I’m on my way to the HuffPost article & their website now to learn more. Thanks again!
ETA:
I just realized that I completely missed this section of the article. So many thanks again for kindly directing me there.

Jim McDannald

No problem, happy to help out.

http://www.herbietown.com Christopher Herbert

Zeo tracked sleep through a headband that you wore at night. It was AWESOME. So much more accurate than my Jawbone UP24 at the sleep tracking part. A little invasive in the bedroom but worth it for the data.

Do you have stocks into Garmin? Their gadget you write about at lenght (even under the other products reviews not to miss it) is exactly that: a gadget. But you seem to present it as best invention after the wheel, so did you get goodies or cookies from Garmin? There are much better tools, even the ones you describe as second or third choice. Last time I read on this site, obviously receiving favors from factories,

cjohnson03

Why are you reading an article about fitness trackers if you have no interest in fitness trackers?

Jacqui Cheng

Hi there, I’m sorry you seem to disagree with our choice, but I don’t think it’s appropriate for you to accuse us of being on-the-take simply because you don’t like the Garmin.

To answer your (obviously insulting and rhetorical question), no, we do not accept free stuff or payment from the companies that we write about, and we do not invest in the companies that we cover. We are simply presenting our findings according to our own research and extensive hands-on testing, which are all discussed at length in thousands upon thousands of words in the guide above.

I would like to see a tracker where you could always calibrate stride length for running and walking. Also, I would like a tracker which would be able to tell if you are cycling or even motocross riding. It would be nice to be able to compete with other people on even ground, for example a short person will always take more steps in a set distance than a taller person with a longer stride. Therefore daily steps taken aren’t very comparable when you have a tall person competing against a short one. Also if you try and compete on distance its tough if someone cycled and the other person ran for their activity. How do these compare and how could you decide who did more activity? It would be nice to have something like “fuel points” in addition to all the other stuff you mention for a complete tracker.

Nicola bank

You can calibrate stride length for the fitbit trackers…just update your stride length via the desktop

http://about.me/davidlnguyen David Nguyen

I agree that the vivofit is the best fitness tracker out there. I’ve used the fitbit ultra, fitbit one, fitbit zip, fitbit force, jawbone up, and up24, phew! The fitbits are way too easy to lose if you aren’t careful and the silicone case that comes with the one is useless because it loosens over time and the one can fall out of it.

I was really looking forward to the up but it had syncing issues the up24 kind of fixed. I do admire the wireless syncing the up24 had but I didn’t want to have to open the app and sync every time just to look at my steps. It sounds seamless on paper, but it’s not as quick as pressing a button on your fitbit and seeing your progress in 1-2 seconds.

Now the vivofit is awesome because it’s always on and I never have to charge it!!! I hate charging my trackers because I have a phone, tablet, kindle, and handheld consoles I need to charge and I don’t want another gadget that does, especially a fitness one. It’s super comfy unless my force which was a pain to put on and you would be surprised with how and always on screen makes everything that much better when it comes to gauging your progress. I don’t ever feel the need to be bothered by syncing this thing but when I do it’s just a one button press then it disconnects again, saving battery life. I wasn’t sure with how a fitness tracker with no light would work but for me it’s worth not having to charge it with the always on screen

Oscar Cavail

A comprehensive review without a full review of the Polar Loop? HUH???
The Loop with the chest strap and metrics via Polar Flow.com is the most comprehensive tool you can buy without spending over $150. And the sleep analysis that can be performed with the Loop and chest strap blow the others out of the water. You can analyze minute by minute for resting heart rate, how long you are in deep sleep, how long it takes you to arrive at deep sleep, the number of interruptions from tossisng and turning, etc. As a 20+ year cyclist who has struggled with all manner of clumsy interfaces and proprietary analysis tools, the work Polar has done to bring you all this in a web-based platform is incredible and by far the best value on the market today. Use the Loop with a phone app like Endomondo for GPS tracking and you have every base covered on activity tracking and analysis. But don’t get the Loop without the chest strap, it’s like buying a bike without the wheels.

Jim McDannald

Hi Oscar. We’re glad to hear that you are enjoying the Polar Loop. Our guides are not meant to provide full reviews of every tracker available. Its features are very similar to that of the Garmin Vivofit. Based on our research and testing, we felt that Vivofit was the better overall device. We’ll keep our eyes on the Loop and keep it in consideration as these devices are updated and improved.

Oscar Cavail

Here is a comprehensive review of the Polar Loop worth checking out from the dcrainmaker blog mentioned. Personally unless you’re a swimmer, you’ll likely carry a smartphone during exercise, thus adding more GPS hardware to your wrist seems redundant since you’ve already got one in the phone. While these are not in depth reviews, this article should be amended to include the Loop if you care to show the consumer full picture of what is available now. http://www.dcrainmaker.com/2013/12/polar-depth-review.html

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

I think Jim already made his thoughts clear on the Polar Loop. To reiterate – We’ll keep our eyes on the Loop and keep it in consideration as these devices are updated and improved.

pendolino

Thanks for the great review of the Garmin Vivofit. Would this be useful for someone that does frequent barbell strength training in terms of estimating activity that is outside walking, running, cycling, etc? I’ve yet to find a device that takes this into account automatically for obvious reasons. Is there a way to adjust for that with the Garmin?

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

Pinging our expert really quick!

Jim McDannald

There really aren’t any mainstream trackers that are useful for tracking information related to weight lifting and the Garmin can not really be adjusted. There are some Kickstarter projects that are working on devices for this problem and a few smart shirts Hexaskin (http://www.hexoskin.com/en/products) and Om Signal (http://www.omsignal.com) that are advertised to display and record your vital signs during activity, We have not tested either of these shirts.

pendolino

Wow thanks for the response Jim. Those shirts are quite slick and especially the Omsignal. Looks like they are just about to launch too. I’m tempted to check them out though I’ll likely wait for your review!

http://www.hexoskin.com Hexoskin

Hi Pendolino, actually Hexoskin launched at the end of 2013 and is available already! I’d be happy to answer your questions.

255555555555555555555555555555

I purchased the Garmin Vivofit based on this review. I returned it after three days because the wrist strap was not secure and the band fell off several times. One of the times I didn’t even notice it was gone and had to retrace my steps to find the band. My wrist size is not out of the ordinary and I don’t think I was doing anything particulary rough when the band disconnected itself.

I also found the display hard to read and might not have kept it even if the darn thing wasn’t falling off over and over.

Jim McDannald

Sorry to hear that you’re having issue with the clasp. The only time mine has fallen off was while reaching under a plane seat to grab my bag.

The lack of back light can make the display difficult to read in low light conditions, is that the time where you struggled with reading it?

wesmaniam

Same boat as you. Mine lasted less than 2 weeks before it fell off and I didn’t notice until much later. Gone.

wesmaniam

I have no idea what this new vivokeeper looks like but at this point I wouldn’t buy another one of these things. Why don’t fitness trackers just come with a regular watch band like my casio from 1988?

http://orbitalvoice.com Mario Olivio Flores

After many near loses, I managed four months before mine was lost. I didn’t love the device, so didn’t have minded if I hadn’t shelled out $130 for it. The device itself felt like little more than a pedometer to me. It was one of the only purchases where I really couldn’t agree with wirecutter and was left disappointed.

TiredofNegativity

I love my Garmin and never have had it fall off. Did you contact Garmin? Their customer support is SO responsive! My favorite part of the Garmin is NO CHARGING and the red activity reminder. I have lost 15 pounds since I started wearing it without dieting… Love it!

wesmaniam

Totally disappointing. The clasp kept coming undone and I was finding it around the house. Today it came off somewhere while I was out and it is gone. It was inevitable. I can’t see recommending this to anyone with the current wrist strap.

Jim McDannald

Hi wesmaniam- Thanks for sharing your experience. This was a known issue with the Fitbit Force that featured a similar clasp design. I’ve had the Vivofit come off my wrist once when reaching under an airline seat. I end of the strap was unclasped as I got it too close to a metal portion of the seat. I will be interested to hear if there are more Vivofit owners with similar issues.

Nick Purches-Knab

When I went to buy the vivofit the salesman (at the VLM expo) told me that it was not suitable for wearing while swimming and that if I did wear it when I was swimming that the warranty would be invalidated…so I didn’t buy it. I have read lots about the waterproof properties of the unit but it seems that Garmin don’t agree with that…at least when not comes to the guarantee!

Jim McDannald

Hi Nicola- The Vivofit I’ve used for testing has been taken into the shower and submerged in a pool with no ill effects. I’d be interested to hear if anyone has had any issues with water damage.

Diane

I would like to purchase a fitness tracker with emphasis on steps. I can not wear on my waiste, not accurate. Purchased flex fitbit, walked 16000 steps registered 9000. Wear pedometer on my shoe and find it accurate but I am prone to losing. Any suggestions? I like seeing steps on apparatus.

Jim McDannald

Hi Dianne, just a couple of quick questions to help you find the best tracker. What keeps you from wearing one on your waist? In general, waist worn trackers tend to be more accurate. How did you count the 16000 steps during your test?

Admittedly I didn’t go as far down the rabbit hole as you did, for the reasons you mentioned in your review. I’m pretty deep into the Fitbit ecosystem, and worse yet, I feel that food/diet is still more important than just exercise. That is a problem I think many of the mfgs ignore these days. Food and diet are the LARGEST component of your health– and while the Garmin (et al) do a great job of keeping people active, I feel strongly that such devices MUST integrate with food (and hold users accountable for their diet). Integration then, with apps like MyFitnessPal, are paramount to (my personal vote of) success.

Still this is a VERY nice review and I want to say thanks for taking the time to share. It adds a good addition of data beyond my review above… so I hope those considering this device read yours to the full end!

Jim McDannald

Hi Ari, thanks for the kind words about the review. Food and diet is really important but for most people it’s hard enough just to remember to wear their tracker let alone log all their meals. It will be interesting to see if there are way to make this quicker and less time consuming in the future.

nrosser

I’ve used UPs and FitBits, and the one I’ve landed on for the last 6 months or so is the Polar Loop. Love it. Indestructible, easy on/off, the fit is great – just the best all around. I use it mainly for daily activity goal tracking – even though yes it will connect to and monitor heart rate, I actually use my phone for that (with various apps on it, to connect to my Polar H7 chest strap). Love the Loop. Love it. LOVE. Did mention that I love the Loop….

Jim McDannald

We’re happy to hear that you are enjoying your Polar Loop.

Guest

It is very curious that you did not include the Polar Loop in your comparison. It is truly unique, offering a collection of data that is not found in any other unit. And its price is great! I’ve been wearing one for 6 months. Even though I am a competitive athlete, I wear it 24 hours every day. One awesome feature is the band that takes only five minutes to custom fit and clasps in such a way that it will not/cannot come off on its own. The Loop keeps me moving and active, it gives me feedback on my resting and sleeping, and it is even my watch. Every 4-5 days I sync it to recharge it. At that time I review the feedback on Polar Flow. That feedback has caused me to make some significant and positive changes to my overall activity levels.

Jim McDannald

Hi Shane. We’re glad to hear that you are enjoying the Polar Loop. A paragraph about the Polar Loop is included in our “The competition” section. We found the Loop’s features to be very similar to that of the Garmin Vivofit. Based on our research and testing, we felt that Vivofit was the better overall device. We’ll keep our eyes on the Loop and keep it in consideration as these devices are updated and improved.

wesmaniam

Still recommending The Vivofit after how many of us have had them fall off and get lost? Which other ones do this? I suggest reading through all of the 1 to 3 star reviews on amazon. It isn’t a minor problem.

Jim McDannald

We appreciate your feedback and are in the process of researching the clasp issue. Once we gather more information, we will update our guide promptly including my experience during the 3 months that I’ve worn the Vivofit.

tareeza

I agree that the wrist strap comes undone very easily. After almost losing the Vivofit, I have somewhat solved the problem by using some self-adhesive velcro fastening on the band. Not very high tech, but seems to work so far.

Jessica Lagios

I was really pleased to see some coverage of the Basis Health Tracker since it seems to be a little more “under-the-radar” than some of the other trackers out there.

I’m wondering if anyone has any thoughts on the Kreyos Meteor? It was funded through Indiegogo, and I don’t think it’s officially shipped yet, but I don’t know if anyone’s gotten to take one for a test drive. The “smartwatch + fitness tracker” idea seems like it might be the Next Big Thing so that people don’t have to wear two wristbands!

Any thoughts on the Push would be appreciated, too, although that product is also not officially shipped and it’s *much* more niche.

tareeza

After my Vivofit fell off a few times, and I almost lost it, I used some self-adhesive velcro on the inside of the strap and it seems to work well as an extra security device.

http://www.disarrangedreality.com David Burgess

Let me preface this with “I really like the Lifeband.”

Here’s my experience with LG:

Over the last couple of years I’ve had a few different fitness trackers (which I talk about in another post that I started writing that I will post in the next couple of days), but the short story is that my Fitbit Force died recently and I needed a replacement.

After doing some research, I decided to go with the LG Lifeband Touch (hereinafter known as Lifeband).

So I went to BestBuy and picked on up (after a bit of a debacle at the store) and headed back to my office.

Once I was there, I checked to see if there was a firmware update. There was, so I let the device do its thing. A few minutes later it was up and running and everything looked good. About 10 minutes later, my wrist vibrated so I checked to see what it was telling me. All it said was “Bluetooth”. I tapped the screen and nothing happened. I turned the bluetooth off and back on and nothing happened. I restarted it and nothing changed. I restarted my phone and the Lifeband at the same time and finally got it to reconnect.

A few minutes later, I got another vibration alert letting me know that the bluetooth had disconnected again.

WTF?

So, I went to the website and saw that there was a chat support link. I chatted with “Eric” for a few minutes before he told me that I would have to call because there’s no chat support for the Lifeband because of how new it is. They just don’t have the support for it. Here’s our conversation:

So I went to Twitter like I normally do. LG told me on Twitter that I would have to call as there’s no online support for the Lifeband.

Seriously? How do you roll out a new product like this and NOT have support ready for it?

Finally I called. I didn’t have to wait as long as I thought I would, but the automated “press 3 for whatever” system had no mention of the Lifeband. It mentioned everything from home appliance to cell phones, but no Lifeband.

After navigating the phone system for a minute I was on hold for just a few minutes when a pleasant sounding guy answered the phone. I chatted with him for a minute and explained what I had done.

He then told me that I would have to take the device back to the store and exchange it. He told me that once I got the device setup to NOT run the firmware update because Google created the firmware and they messed it up. He told me that because Google wrote the operating system for the Lifeband, that he wouldn’t be able to help me because the software on the LG device wasn’t LG’s software.

He was smug, arrogant, and excessively condescending.

I told him that I didn’t believe that Google wrote the firmware update for the LG Lifeband. He started laughing at me and told me to believe what I wanted.

I just hung up. I was stunned that the support system of a company like LG could be SO terrible.

After I got off the phone with Captain Arrogant, I started looking through the app on my phone and digging through settings. Withing just a few minutes I discovered that by restarting the bluetooth on my phone, I was able to immediately reconnect.

The problem wasn’t the Lifeband’s firmware update.

The problem was the power saving mode on my phone was disabling bluetooth after 10 minutes.

That’s it.

Since I disabled that part of the power saving functionality of my phone, I’ve had no problems.

Actually, there’s an additional feature of the Lifeband that I discovered: If I get too far away from my phone, the bluetooth disconnects and I get notified that I’ve lost connection. I bet I’ll never leave my phone anywhere and then leave without it.

So. There it is. I’ve got 2 weeks to return the Lifeband to BestBuy if I decide I don’t like it. Minus a few little things, I’m pretty happy with the device. I’m not happy with the support I received from LG, though. Their customer service is more of a “sucks to be you” rather than a “how can I help” way of dealing with their customers.

That alone will make me have a very hard time recommending any LG device to anyone.

Jim McDannald

Hi David-

Thanks for sharing your experience. Hope your next two weeks with the device are going better.

M

I’m looking for the best fitness tracker that does not require an internet connection and a browser app in order to analyze and make my stats viewable. What are my options really?

Jim McDannald

Hi M- Which specific stats are most important to you?

M

Thanks for your reply! Steps and sleep (motion during sleep). But I’d prefer lack of data breadth to being dependent of “the cloud”. An offline Win/OS X application or even raw data (like CSV) would be my dream.

Jim McDannald

As you are probably aware, a large number of trackers will show the steps, but I’ll have to rack my brain a bit for the sleep portion showing up on the device. I think the now recalled Force used to show the amount of time in “sleep mode”. But offhand, I can’t think of a device that will show you sleep quality or motion during sleep on the device itself. I’ll keep digging.

I am sure there are more sophisticated ways of collected the raw data if you want to spend time searching. There are a lot of interesting video presentation and studies going on with people involved in Quantified Self. http://quantifiedself.com

M

Thanks for you reply again and thank you for the Quantified Self link.

Perhaps I expressed myself badly… I don’t have to be able to really see anything on the device itself (not sleep, not steps). I just meant that I want a device that can count activity (steps) and sleep and that can operate without “cloud software”. It IS okay If the device has cloud software, but I don’t want to depend on it. I want to be able to run to be able to run a Windows /OS X software that doesn’t need internet connection and still be able to see my stats.

Jim McDannald

M- Thanks for for clarification. Most software logs for trackers (Garmin Connect, Fitbit, Polar, Basis) are “thin clients” where they have a minimal amount of software on the desktop/mobile app but are almost completely cloud based. I don’t know of a tracker that primarily syncs to desktop software. Sorry that I can’t be more help.

Sarah

I’m surprised to see no mention of BodyMedia FIT – one of longest standing trackers that seems to work well. Why is that?

Erin

While I understand your point, I would love to know if the skin sensors on the FIT help it to collect more accurate data than any of these devices worn around the wrist?

Since i read this review last i purchased a Vivofit, just to be disappointed.
It does everything you say: good steps, great battery life, good hardware, water proof, display.
But, it lacks that polish that other fitness bands have. It lacks the style, lacks on the software (and i fear that they will never make it as good as others such as Fitbit).
There are such great functions that make it easier for an individual to log with the Fitbit app than with Garmin Connect. On top of that, the community base with Fitbit is much larger, the forums are empty… its lonely. The lack of support from the community and app outweigh my frustration of constant charging of my Fitbit.
Looking forward to the Jaybird Reign, which is purported to be more independent and self motivating without integrating others for motivation.
Also looking forward to the “find/leak” of Fitbit Charge/Surge/Pulse.

Jim McDannald

Hi neu-

Thanks for your thoughts. As we mention in the guide, no tracker is perfect and every single one has tradeoffs. For now, we think the Vivofit is the best tracker for most people. We hope to see theses devices and their software become more polished and accurate in the near future.

Jen

Great article – thanks!

Jen

Great article – thanks! I am actually looking for a tracker that does not have Bluetooth. I know there is no data to confirm any issues, but there is a lot of cancer in my family and I find the idea of wearing something that is emitting radiation 24/7 a bit creepy and would rather not go there. Are there any trackers out there that don’t use wireless technology, or where you can turn off the wireless and just turn it on to sync? I’d be happy just to get daily data – maybe I just need an old school pedometer, though I like the idea of the inactivity alarms, etc. Thanks for any thoughts!

Hi, I am a jockey and am very active, I am looking for a tracker that will count my calories and tell me about my meals , what to eat etc as well as doing all the other things they seem to do. I have purchased a misfit shine but after reading a lot of reviews, am now more confused than ever! can you tell me which one you would recommend?

Jim McDannald

Hi Shane, besides great food tracking and calorie estimation software, are there any other features that you really want with your tracker? (i.e. hip vs. wrist, visual display, smart weight scale integration). Once I know those options which you prefer, I’ll be able to get a better picture of what might work best for you.

Denis

I just ordered my vivofit based on your review, but I very much would like to hear your opinion on ankle mounted devices, or are you even going to have a go on the flyfit system?

Jim McDannald

HI Denis- Thanks for the comment. Though the Flyfit looks interesting, we generally don’t write up crowd funded products until they become available for sale.

Denis

Thanks for the quick response and for the review itself. But is the flyfit the first (to come) that fits at the ankle and would the vivofit work there as well? Are you going to review it as well or don’t you care that much for it? Because I think that the ankle is more of an indicator for activity then the wrist and should be also good for sleep analysis as well. As I’m not that much in need of a watch (or a display), I’d like to not wear something on my wrist and rather have it “hidden” at my ankle (or somewhere else).
Perhaps you could give me a recommendation on what i could consider to buy if not the vivofit.
I bought (and received this morning) the Garmin to give it a try, besides your review, because I’ve got an ant+ HRM from my Garmin FR305 and I’m very happy with it for years already.
As all of these devices track my activity, I’m interested in sleep tracking for “research”(curiosity) purposes. I hope the vivofit does track my HBR well also during my sleep. I’d prefer to see stairs counted as well and to work with my ant+ strap.
Thank you so much in advance!

Denis

P.S: And I’m not that much in need of motivating (at least I think so ), so not necessarily a red bar or vibration but just tracking to analyze it later. Thanks!

Denis

I discovered that it doesn’t track your hbr if you’re in sleep mode, that’s why I will return it. If you put it in sleep mode, it just tracks the movement but apparently not the hbr and that was the most important part to me. That’s kind of disappointing as I was quite satisfied with it being a Garmin to line it up with my Garmin FR 350 and to work with my old ant+ strap. I don’t see a reason why it wouldn’t be able to track my hbr while sleeping. It’s too bad. :/

Jim McDannald

Just for clarity, when you say “HBR” are you referring to heart rate?

Denis

Yes, i thought the correct term would be “heart beat rate”. Isn’t it?

Jim McDannald

Usually it’s referred to as “HR” heart rate or “PR” pulse rate, but I appreciate you clarifying :). There are so many acronyms in health/medicine that it can be confusing. In order to get heart rate date while you sleep, you’ll need either the Basis B1 tracker or a special device for your bed called Beddit. Epson and Mio are each releasing trackers with optical heart rate sensors but it unclear whether or not they will launch with sleep tracking features similar to Basis. Hope this helps.

Denis

Thank you very much! I will keep checking your review to stay up to date.

Eric Eisenhart

Are there any options that handle bicycling, walking, running and swimming?
Seems like all the wristband activity trackers do walking/running and a few of those can handle swimming. Smartphone app movement trackers often do bicycling and walking but would never work for swimming and aren’t even very good for running.

Jim McDannald

Hi Eric-

The Misfit Shine is the only current option that I am aware of that tracks these four activities. Swimming seems to be biggest hurdle due to the need for waterproofing. Be aware though, that the Shine does not count laps or distance. It assigns ‘Shine points’ to the activity based on time and intensity of your workout. Hope this helps.

Jim McDannald

Hi Eric, the Pebble was recently updated to include swim metrics. I’ll be testing it soon to see how it handles biking, walking and running.

Yuenglings

Nice displays, but two big negatives:
1. Mine kept popping off, and I finally lost it when I didn’t realize it had come off.
2. The mileage track was about 25% more than I actually did.

http://www.thisamericanbite.com/ Yosef

I just got the Misfit shine — and it’s OK. I’m pretty unimpressed by the app, and although the design is unique, I am not sure that I love wearing it on my wrist all the time. I chose she Shine as the primary activity I track is swimming.

Now I am second guessing my purchase and wondering if the Vivfit woud be a better option although the wristband/clasp issue concerns me as I have small wrists.

I’d love to see a review of fitness trackers specifically for swimmers.

Jim McDannald

Hi Yosef-

Unfortunately there isn’t a fitness tracker that does a good job of combining metrics from in the pool and on land. If you want to keep track of swim workouts, the Garmin Swim (http://sites.garmin.com/swim/) might be worth a look. We’ll let you know if a better fitness tracker for swimmers becomes available.

Jim McDannald

Hi Yosef- The Pebble has recently been updated to include swim metrics like lap count and stroke rate. We will be testing it soon, to see how accurate it is.

http://LukeRB.com/ Luke Bornheimer

Thanks for the thorough write-up! My brother-in-law is interested in getting a device to track and analyze his sleep; It doesn’t need to track steps or activity. What device would you recommend for this type of focused use case?

Also, any chance TWC is going to do a write-up on sleep tracking devices?

Jim McDannald

Hi Luke, thanks for the kind words about the guide. It’s definitely a category that we’ll look into once the devices become more accurate and have more scientific proof to back up their claims.

If your brother-in-law doesn’t want to wait, the two system I’d recommend are the Basis health tracker or Beddit. Instead of only relying on movement during the night, each of these systems use heart rate to help determine real sleep measures. Hope this helps.

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

In the near future yes! In the meantime, see if this comment helps. Our expert delves into sleep/heart rate monitors briefly

The Garmin Vivofit is a decent tracker but honestly i think any of the trackers on the market are a waste of money. The only useful option on any of them right now is the sleep tracking abilities. They just do not have enough sensors to measure all the needed biometrics to truly be useful. You would be better off just getting a good heart rate monitor. Calories burned is just an estimate and could be misleading using that information. Your best guide to judging your activities and keeping track is going to be based on your heart rate.

Would Love to know how the new Runtastic Orbit compares against the current top pick. I find it appealing that one can wear it swimming… http://www.runtastic.com/orbit I currently have a fitbit flex and find it finicky when trying to charge it.

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

Forwarded to our lead researcher!

Jim McDannald

Hi Michael- We in the process of getting an Orbit in for testing. Our current pick is also waterproof and can be worn while swimming. To my knowledge, neither measures any swim metrics like laps or distance. There really isn’t a tracker that does a good job with swimming yet. Hope this helps.

Jim McDannald

Did you see that the Pebble has been recently updated with the ability to measure a number of swim metrics?

Michael Levinson

I saw… waiting for the iOS app to enable…

Carl

Garmin is now offering a free accessory to owners who have registered to eliminate the issue of bands coming unclasped:Accessorize vívofit® with vívokeeperWe know you do more than walk. You run; hike; climb; and do things only some of us dream about – that’s why we’re offering you this free vívokeeper.

vívokeeper is an easy-to-place black clasp that keeps vívofit securely on your wrist, no matter where your day’s activities lead you.

To get your free vívokeeper, simply select your locale 1 and follow the onscreen instructions. Your free vívokeeper is estimated to arrive in 4-6 weeks (if shipped to you). We know the vívokeeper is pretty cool, but we must limit you to one per person.

John123John

I was going to write a shortcomings for all the fitness trackers but this sentence explains everything everything I want.

“In a perfect world, we would be able to find a tracker that is worn on the wrist; is waterproof; and has wireless syncing, a legible screen, comprehensive app support, and a long battery life. Ideally, it would accurately track steps, pulse rate, sleep quality, and altitude. Unfortunately, that remains a pipe dream for now. If you take the sum of all the currently available trackers, it’s possible to do all these things, but there’s not one tracker that does it all.”

The features I care about most are sleep tracker, heart rate and wearability(comfort and water resistance). Also in this day and age, it should be able to sync data to an app.
Another feature that caught my attention is the Jawbone Up’s sleep cycle vibration alarm. I have been using an app and it has changed my mornings.. forever.

I do agree however, after reading all the reviews, the Vivofit seems like the best option now but is the perfect fitness tracker coming soon?

Neil Martin

Any updates in light of the lack of integration plans between fitbit and Healthkit on iOS 8?

Jim McDannald

I’ve been testing out Apple Health app for the past couple of weeks. Waiting to see if a few other major tracker companies announce official plans. We should have some thoughts on the subject in the next week or so.

Neil Martin

Though there are whole discussion boards full of complaints on this issue, I’ll say that it’s frustrating to “invest” in a platform who then doesn’t want to share or easily give you back your data if the next great thing comes along (not that healthkit is necessarily the next great thing).

Jeremy

Even though most Fitbit devices are great, since they won’t allow you to export the data to iHealth and limit what you can DO with YOUR DATA, it pretty much takes all their devices out of the equation. The main point is that since there is no perfect device, connecting the data of different devices is the “best” and Fitbitt prevents you form doing that and force you from leaving their ecosystem if a better device from another company comes out. Please take this into consideration.

dorkopter

After wracking my brain for a week, I finally chose the Garmin Vivofit (plus premium HRM) for myself and a Fitbit One for someone who is attempting a 50km trail walk next month.

The only problem is that I have ordered them from Amazon UK to be delivered to a hotel in London, so that a friend can haul them over next week. They’re a bit too expensive here.

dorkopter

Does the Vívofit® offer any functionality for its much touted water resistance, such as actually measuring how much you swam?

I’m still waiting for it to arrive, but as research gets focused only after the decision is made and resources committed, I didn’t realise that the water resistance was the feature, not its enabler.

veronicat

Have you check upon Bong2 or Microsoft Band?

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

Our refresh is imminent. Check back soon!

Zax

Garmin offers a free Fix for the band issue…. goto Garmin.com

Sol

Jim McDonald,
I am currently researching all these activity trackers and OMG it’s a headache. I really want one that tracks my calories burned, my steps, stairs, heart rate, and my intensity of exercise. I love to do my step aerobics and other classes and I want something that tells me how many calories I burned along with the steps/miles. I also like to jog wile pushing a stroller and I noticed that some will not record your steps while doing that. I like that I can see the information instead of waiting to log onto a computer or phone. Can you direct me or if any other person has some suggestions I would soooo much appreciate it.

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

We’re refreshing this guide. Check back for the update soon!

Eric Fallabel

I bought the Jawbone Up for my wife last November. The band broke in May, after only six months. The failure mode was of apparent bending fatigue on the side of the band with the button. Eventually the button itself slid into the body of the band because of internal breakage.

Jawbone replaced that band under warranty in May, but now that replacement has also broken in the same manner. This time my wife made an explicit effort to be gentle with the band. That’s a 6-month life for each of two bands. Since the Up 24 looks like basically the same product (Bluetooth aside), I believe these results are relevant to both.

Jawbone’s customer service was quite good, as they offered to replace the second band even though it’s recently out-of-warranty. Still, I can’t believe how fragile these things are.

Robert Jewell

What if your priority is tracking and improving sleep? What wearable technology does that best?

Jim McDannald

The Basis Peak is the only wrist tracker that has a true measure of the different phases of sleep. Peak uses heart rate while the others all rely on motion. A number of others with HR monitoring abilities will be on the market soon: Fitbit Charge HR, Fitbit Surge and Jawbone UP3.

Scott

My dad wants a fitness tracker for Hanukah. Do you recommend the Garmin Vivofit with or without the heart rate monitor. Right now Amazon has the one without for $75 and with for $130

Jim McDannald

HI Scott-

If this is his first fitness tracker, I’d go without. Always an option to get him the heart rate monitor in the future, if he really gets into it.

sophistroland

Have you guys considered checking out the Pivotal Tracker 1? A different method of a fitness tracking where you pay for access to the app, but the band is free. I think it sounds like an intriguing concept, but I’d like to see how the product turns out.

Jim McDannald

Will publish a big update to the guide, including the Pivotal Tracker, very soon.

jalyst

Will it include ALL the next-gen trackers that’ve just come out, or will be out very soon?

Jim McDannald

We will do our best to include as many trackers that are currently available. Nearly impossible to include ALL the trackers

jalyst

No, you must include ALL!
JK, please REALLY do your best though.

BR.

Jim McDannald

Don’t worry, I’ve taken a lot of time with this update.

jalyst

So, has this “big update” already been published, or are the changes I see just small touch-ups before you release the big one?

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

No, the bigger update is upcoming. You’ll know because the WAIT status will no longer be up top.

jalyst

Ah, that’s what that was,

I clicked on it & it took me to Amazon, so I then thought it must’ve meant something else.

Thanks for the clarification.

jalyst

Makes sense that the big update doesn’t come out too soon, as some of the next-gen. devices are still some ways off being publicly available, although you guys might have earlier access

William

Would be great to see the Mio Fuse included in the line up of products you review in the forthcoming update

Jim McDannald

We’ve been making some incremental updates to our The Competition section and recently updated our thoughts on the Mio Fuse. The optical heart rate sensor is great, but it’s significantly bulkier and wider than every other tracker.

http://www.mcelhearn.com/ Kirk McElhearn

I see you’re now recommending the Fitbit Charge. I was too, but after exchanging mine, I got a unit whose accuracy is terrible. This may be a fluke, but it’s quite disturbing. I’ve written it up here:

The final analysis isn’t in yet, that’s only an interim pick, they’ll be testing all the nextgen. stuff & releasing a final analysis in Jan.

Personally I think they need to allow themselves more time than that, so they can cover a wider gamut of nextgen. devices.

Jim McDannald

We will be releasing an update in early January and keep updating our thoughts as all the new fitness tracking devices (UP3, Apple Watch, etc) are reviewed/available for testing this spring.

jalyst

Some of them won’t be available/reviewed till late March early April???

Mike

I ordered a FitBit Charge based on this site as well – which is awesome and always spot on – unfortunately the unit I received wouldn’t synch and the battery couldn’t hold a charge. The exchange process and Customer Support has been a B- at best.

Gary

I love this website and your sibling website, sweethome, but I highly recommend you try out the Striiv Fusion. I stumbled upon it while deciding, and I’ve loved it since I got it. The notifications and silent alarm really put it over the top of the other trackers.

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

Yep we saw them at CES they’re mentioned in this guide.

cr37e

I have and like the Garmin Vivofit very much. I don’t have a Smartphone, so I needed a tracker that would show me my steps ON the device. I’ve used it while walking, exercising with a personal trainer, swimming, and horseback riding and it has never come off. (I ordered the free accessory mentioned in the article, not because I’ve needed it in the past, but because it’s just one extra way to ensure I don’t lose the tracker.) Love that the battery lasts a year and that it has a built in watch, and mine came with a heart rate monitor that syncs automatically with the band, which is great for my equine activities.

My biggest complaint about the Vivofit is that it does not count your steps if you are pushing a shopping cart (baby carriage, etc.); those steps are just lost. I try to shop with a friend, so she can push the cart! A built in GPS (which seems like a no-brainer for Garmin) could fix this issue. I also wish it had either a vibrating (or a sound that I could turn off in meetings/movies, etc.) alert when I am idle too long; it can be hours before I notice the red alert band, especially if I’m deep in work on the computer or lounging in front of the TV. The lack of backlighting is another issue, but it doesn’t come up often. As the article says, if a $30 Timex can add a button-activated Indiglo backlight system for viewing the screen in the dark, why can’t Garmin?
I highly recommend the Vivofit, and look forward to what Garmin comes up with in the future (although the Vivosmart doesn’t sound like something I’ll buy, as the battery life is too short.)

FYI, they just released the FitBit Charge HR and Surge. Hopefully the Surge will be the new best cause I just ordered it

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

We’re aware!

Eric Barnes

I ordered a Xiaomi Mi Band from aliexpress. For $20 you really can not go wrong. I haven’t received it yet

jalyst

I’ll just post this here, because when you 1st posted you only included the 1st sentence, in the hopes that folks wouldn’t notice the accusatory stuff you added after it:

“I really wish The Wire Cutter, and the Sweet Home reviewed products
that they didn’t get a profit from. If they are missing well known
products, its because they don’t get any kickback from when people
purchase the item. Its understandable, because obviously you guys
have to make money too for your time and money spent, I just wish you
took the cut because it ruins the credibility. I would rather see ads
and have you guys review all the products.”

That way, the journos here have a *right of recourse*…

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

After your comment he edited his and put it in. But thanks for taking note!

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

No offense to you personally, but what you’re saying is 100% false. Let me explain-

First off, Xiaomi is a blatant Apple knockoff company. Like they don’t even hide it. It’s a really shitty practice & one I personally wouldn’t support no matter how great their product was. But that’s me & I don’t speak entirely for Wirecutter & Sweethome as a whole.

Secondly, we review/test/rec PLENTY of things we don’t get ANY affiliate revenue from. Good example is expensive windshield wipers from PIAA we just changed today due to stock issues. We won’t see a cent on a purchase for those. And that’s OK with us.

Finally, being that Amazon carries such an incredibly vast array of products, the chances of a product that is good/in high demand ending up on Amazon is fairly inevitable. Just how it works these days.

We have a policy here. What’s best for the reader is always #1 priority – even if we don’t make money.

Side note: if we did recommend a Xiaomi product, and something went VERY wrong (like the Fitbit rashes), how would we let our readers know they’ll be able to get refunds or returns honored? Like Xiaomi is such a reputable company that they would issue a mass US recall of a device & offer refunds/replacements? I highly doubt that. A situation like this would ruin our credibility.

-Tony

Eric Barnes

Don’t get me wrong. I really enjoy reading the articles, and I have bought products based off the reviews.

All I’m saying is that I have to Personally take the reviews with a grain of salt.

The largest reason I feel this way is because of the “Best eBook Reader” review left out entirely the kobo aura. And I can’t see any logical conclusion other than that.

I’m not trying to be rude, but at the same time, I would love it if you could convince me otherwise. I really do love this site and I appreciate the articles. they Have saved me personally lots of time

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

Maybe you don’t understand how we do things here. When we use the term best, it means best for most people. Meaning the one you’d get for the person that’s not super into tech, not hip to what’s up in the overseas knockoff market, etc etc etc.

In the future will we look at the Kobo? Sure. It’s making waves. They’re owned by Japan’s Amazon (Rakuten) now and really seem to be doing some things right.

And just to make a note: Look at all the other reputable pubs out there. They say the same thing we do. The Kindle is the best. This is a shorter guide meant to get to the point, rather than some of our larger & more in-depth guides.

CNET: Kobo gets a generic nod for being ePub friendly. Consumer Reports: on screen for a millisecond?
Engadget: Kobo not even in the top 5
PCMag: in the 5/6 spot – WEIGHING IN AT 9 OUNCES! That thing is heavy compared to most other ebook readers.

I’m really glad you do not represent the company, because I feel that the way you handled my opinion was far from professional.

I still stated my fact, that a popular eBook was never reviewed, and without any logical reason. The whole point of the reviews are to show you the options out there to pick from, and which ones you guys felt were best.

The kobo was completely left out, thus I felt the logical conclusion was that there was no kick back. You have not personally disproved my original hypothesis.

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

My apologies. I just really don’t like it when someone calls us out for something that is 100% false. I can promise you that the Kobo was not left out because there was no kickback.

Eric Barnes

What disqualified it?

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

Ask that question in the E-Book reader section of the comments, not in the Fitness Tracker section.

jalyst

To his defence there’s no way it shouldn’t have been in contention, it’s absolutely among the best options (or was).

Anyone who follows all the e-reader focused tech sites (there’s at least three good ones) knows that.

There’s no way it would’ve come out on top though, IMO…

jalyst

I read what he wrote, way more professional than what you’ve written. Believe it or not organisations like this have limited resources, they can’t compare everything under the sun. They do get to the ones that meet all their “openly stated” criteria eventually, it just takes time.

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

That’s actually an extremely accurate observation (the comparison taking time). The Kobo will get looked it. It just hasn’t yet. The eBook reader guide is thinner than 99% of our other guides on here but will get updated eventually.

Phil

I’m really looking forward to your review of the new Fitbit offerings, as well as updated reviews of the newer competitor models!

TiredofNegativity

There are so many great devices on the market now!!!!!! Garmin has several new offerings (and they fixed the clasp problem months ago by sending users a garmin keeper), so does Fitbit but it appears they are a refreshed Force… I am looking forward to see what the Apple Watch has to bring. Withings Activite and Activite Pop are gorgeous (have not tried it), Misfit has come out with new devices as has Jawbone… This area is popping with new devices, so exciting!

jalyst

You aren’t about to spam every sub’r to this thread with your posts now, are you? 1 or 2’s fine, several is poor form…

TiredofNegativity

I posted twice…. geeeez

jalyst

Yep that’s cool, just don’t crazy with heaps more tis all.

TiredofNegativity

are you the board moderator?

jalyst

No. Just acutely aware of common netiquette.

/off-topic

TiredofNegativity

I was wondering; I moderate numerous websites for customers and wouldn’t jump on them for 2 posts, so I figured you weren’t a moderator. I am keenly aware of what Nettiquette is.

jalyst

The problem lies with your perception that you were jumped on, read my 1st response, & then my follow-up to your exasperated one. This can end now, no need to ‘make a mountain out of a molehill’ & create even more noise in the process.

Huh? C’mon now dude, you’re the mod, rise above the temptation to contribute to the problem

http://thewirecutter.com/ tony kaye

Dude, it’s 1am and I’m going through old comments I didn’t have time to get to last week/less important replies. No harm in answering his question. Not going to close this thread as it seems to have died down, but you worry about you & me worry about me.

To reduce the SNR for your subscribers*, it’s best to only address stuff that’s on-topic, esp. if your responses are going to be massively delayed.

That’s my only point, not having a go at you!

Cheers.
*which should be ‘front & centre’ of your thinking

http://www.shiftintohappiness.com/ Nasri Nasir

Hi guys,

I’ve been looking at this post for awhile and see that most of it has got to do with activity involving steps, or distance. Alternatively, there are also people who just wants to keep track of their health while in the gym while doing push-ups or squats.

I’m looking at a fitness band that can detect motion, calories burned, and progression.. I googled and found this fitness band here at https://www.atlaswearables.com.

Would you guys consider doing a review or comparison about this, when it’s out, or maybe lead me to some comparison already done here that I might have overlooked?

Thanks!

jalyst

There’s at least one other I’ve seen folks recommend over that one, can’t recall the reasons, one I think was moov.

Swami Odo

Hello I have started to have trouble with my Vivofit (purchased September 2014) – it loses up to 15 minutes per day, and so I cannot rely on the watch feature. As a result, I now wear the vivofit on my right wrist, and a regular watch on my left wrist (?!). I note that others are having this problem, as discussed in their forums. Syncing the device with my PC resets the time, but it still continues to run slow. When I contact vivofit customer service, (twice), get me to update my software, but also tell me they are aware of this problem, and are working on a new software fix to solve the problem but cannot provide an estimate of when this fix will be completed. They specifically do not offer to replace my obviously defective vivofit. I do very much like the activity monitor feature that warns when I have been inactive for over an hour, but I would have expected Garmin to resolve problems with this device in a timely manner, or provide a replacement.

The Fitbit One is our favorite clip-on tracker. It performs just as well as the Force, though it's a lot easier to lose or accidentally run through a rinse cycle. Fitbit is also the only software that'll sync with a Windows Phone

Jim McDannald is a writer, residency trained podiatrist and assistant distance running coach at McGill University. Jim has been combining his love for technology and sports since learning to code his college cross country team's website. Along with writing for The Wirecutter and the Daily Relay, Jim is currently learning French and getting in shape for a half marathon.

With the help of a graphic designer, we tested 11 iPad styluses to find the best for notes and sketching. The Adonit Jot Pro has a clear plastic disc tip so you can see what you’re drawing or writing (a feature the competition universally lacks). It’s also comfortable to hold and it most closely mimicked the feeling of pen on paper during our tests.